Map of the Day: Where Malaria Has Been Defeated

Today’s map comes from the World Health Organization’s flagship malaria report, which was released today. It shows the countries around the world that have defeated malaria, those that are on their way to eliminating malaria, and those in which malaria still routinely sickens people.

Overall, the numbers are not excellent. The WHO report finds that in 2017 there were an estimated 219 million cases of Malaria worldwide, which is a decrease from 239 million in 2010 but an increase from 217 million cases estimated in 2016.

This leads the report to conclude that from 2015–2017,  “no significant progress in reducing global malaria cases was made in this timeframe.”

Like many global health issues the disease burden is concentrated in just a few countries.

The report finds that “fifteen countries in sub-Saharan Africa and India carried almost 80% of the global malaria burden. Five countries accounted for nearly half of all malaria cases worldwide: Nigeria (25%), Democratic Republic of the Congo (11%), Mozambique (5%), India (4%) and Uganda (4%).”

On the bright side, the WHO finds that the South East Asia region saw a massive decrease in the disease burden, “from 17 cases of the disease per 1000 population at risk in 2010 to 7 in 2017 (a 59% decrease).”

To see all the data read the report.