Though eliminated in some parts of the world decades ago, malaria remains a significant public health problem threatening half the world’s population. In 2022, there were 249 million malaria cases globally, leading to 608,000 deaths (WHO). The availability of simple, cost-effective interventions to prevent and treat the disease, including insecticide-treated mosquito nets (ITNs), has led to a 60 per cent decrease in malaria mortality rates since 2000, but progress in recent years has stalled, with the number of cases worldwide remained virtually unchanged over the past five years.

Malaria disproportionately affects the poor and most marginalized communities as they are high risk and have the least access to effective services. Due to more vulnerable immune systems, children under 5 years old, pregnant women, and people living with HIV and AIDS are more susceptible to malaria. In 2022, children under 5 years accounted for 76% of all malaria deaths worldwide. A child dies of malaria nearly every minute (UNICEF). 

World Vision is following through on its commitment to fight malaria until it is defeated. Prevention and treatment for malaria is woven into our core global health strategy. In areas where malaria is an issue we work to assure that families – especially mothers and children under age 5 – are sleeping under an insecticide-treated mosquito net. We also work to strengthen health systems to make sure families have access to proper diagnosis, treatment and care, including Integrated Community Case Management (iCCM) where diagnosis and treatment is carried out by community health workers.  Other interventions include promotion of intermittent presumptive treatment for pregnant women, indoor residual spraying of insecticides (IRS), and environmental hygiene interventions where we address the sanitation issues that create breeding grounds for malaria-carrying mosquitoes. 

THE MALARIA VACCINE

In October 2021, the World Health Organization recommended that the RTS,S malaria vaccine be used for the prevention of malaria in children living in regions with moderate to high transmission, based on results of the ongoing research pilot project that has reached more than 1 million children in Ghana, Kenya and Malawi since 2019. World Vision fully supports promotion of the RTS,S vaccine because it has proven to be safe, effective, feasible and practical. Malaria vaccine rollout started in Cameroon in January  2024. 

WORLD VISION'S MALARIA INVESTMENTS THROUGH THE GLOBAL FUND

In 2022, World Vision:

• World Vision supported national malaria programmes in six countries (Angola, Central African Republic (CAR), Malawi, Mozambique, Thailand, and Zimbabwe), reaching almost 27 million direct beneficiaries. 
• Specific interventions included social and behaviour change, prevention, testing, and treatment of malaria through integrated public-private sector case management.
• World Vision Global Fund malaria programmes alone saved an estimated 414,5674 lives of children under age five in 2021.
• World Vision distributed 8.6 million long-lasting insecticidal-treated nets
• 178,985 pregnant women received at least three doses of intermittent preventive treatment (IPTp) for malaria
• Malawi’s seasonal indoor residual spraying (IRS) campaign reached 97% (529,285 of 546,833) of targeted eligible structures, killing and repelling mosquitos, and protecting over 1.9 million people from potential malaria infection.
• In Malawi,  World Vision trained and supported 3,063 community leaders to conduct door-to-door visits and awareness sessions, addressing myths and misconceptions concerning the IRS campaign.
• Community Health Workers (CHWs) provided rapid testing and first-line treatment to homes in underserved rural communities far from health clinics.
  • In 2022, 8.5 million people suspected of having malaria received a parasitological test, with 713,000 of those conducted by CHWs at the community level, and the remainder at public or private health facilities.
  • 7.2 million confirmed cases of malaria were treated with first-line antimalarial drugs, with 663,573 of those being treated at the community level.

Read more:

What is malaria? Facts, Symptoms and what World Vision is doing 

Digital Health Factsheet: Fighting malaria with digital health tools in Angola

Integrated Community Case Management - a World Vision project approach