Announcements: World Malaria Day — April 25, 2012

World Malaria Day is commemorated on April 25, the date in 2000 when 44 African leaders met in Abuja, Nigeria, and committed their countries to cutting malaria-related deaths in half by 2010. In the decade since, increased funding and control efforts have led to a scale-up of effective malaria interventions, resulting in decreased malaria morbidity and mortality in many countries. In 2010, an estimated 216 million cases of malaria and 655,000 deaths were reported worldwide, a 17% decrease in malaria incidence and 25% reduction in global malaria mortality since 2000 (1). World Malaria Day 2012's theme, Sustain Gains, Save Lives: Invest in Malaria, underscores the need to consolidate these gains and continue scaling up malaria interventions.

CDC supports these efforts through the President's Malaria Initiative, a U.S. government interagency initiative to reduce malaria incidence and mortality in 19 countries in sub-Saharan Africa and in the Mekong subregion in Asia. In addition, CDC conducts multidisciplinary strategic and applied research globally to increase knowledge about malaria and develop safe, effective interventions that can lead to the elimination and eventual eradication of malaria.

As a World Health Organization (WHO) Collaborating Center for Prevention and Control of Malaria, CDC works closely with WHO, which has just released new malaria surveillance manuals and launched the T3: Test, Treat, and Track initiative, urging increased investment in national capacity for diagnostic testing, diagnosis-based treatment, and surveillance. Additional information is available from WHO at http://www.who.int/malaria/en. Additional information regarding CDC's malaria activities is available at http://www.cdc.gov/malaria.

Reference

1. World Health Organization. World malaria report 2011. Geneva, Switzerland: World Health Organization; 2011. Available at http://www.who.int/malaria/world_malaria_report_2011/en/index.html. Accessed April 10, 2012.