World Is at Risk of Losing Fight Against Malaria, WHO Warns. Climate Crisis Is Making Things Worse

The World Health Organization (WHO) is sounding the alarm that malaria is increasing as a threat across the world.

"More than ever, we are at risk of losing our fight against this disease," Peter Sands, executive director of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, said, according to Reuters.

According to the organization’s new report, there were an estimated 249 million malaria cases in 2022—an increase from 2021 by 5 million cases. 

"The report reveals that progress has ground to a halt, and in some places is reversing. Unless we take action now, malaria could resurge dramatically, wiping out the hard-won gains of the last two decades,” Sands said.

The report shows that despite efforts to contain the disease, case numbers have exceeded these attempts. Extreme weather caused by the climate crisis, like flooding in Pakistan, has also facilitated the spread of the disease. 

Warmer temperatures caused by the climate crisis have made more areas habitable for malaria-transmitting mosquitoes, further hastening their dispersion. 

Along with these factors, malaria has another weapon: developing resistance against drugs that treat it, specifically the compound artemisinin. While the parasite that causes malaria does not seem to have developed full immunity to the drug, this resistance does mean that the drug takes longer to work, increasing the length of time that the patient is sick. 

There are two malaria vaccines that have been authorized by the United Nations. Experts have said that expectations should be tempered; one is only 30% effective at preventing the disease, and it has not been determined if the second is more effective. 

However, in the foreword of the WHO’s new report, the organization’s Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, M.D., says that some hope is also warranted. He said that having a second vaccine available will help more people in Africa access some degree of protection against the disease. 
According to the report, there were 608,000 deaths from malaria in 2022, a decrease from 619,000 in 2021.