2011 World Malaria Report Released.

The world Health Organization on Tuesday, Dec 13th launched the World Malaria Report 2011 at the UN Palais des Nations in Geneva, with a disclosure that a total of 655 000 persons died of malaria worldwide in 2010 with 86% of the victims being children under five years of age.

The 2011 World Malaria Report summarizes data received from 106 malaria-endemic Countries for 2010. It was copied to selected journalists from around the world who, covered clinical trials of the world's most advanced malaria vaccine to date, at a medical research center at Bagamoyo in Tanzania in February 2009.

According to the 2011report, there were 216 million cases of malaria worldwide in 2010, with 81percent of these occurring in Africa.

The report said 91% of malaria deaths worldwide in 2010 occurred in six African countries alone, namely Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Burkina Faso, Mozambique, Cote d'Ivoire and Mali.

Malaria mortality rates, the report said, had however fallen by more than 25% since 2000, with the largest percentage reductions seen in the European (99%), American (55%) and Western Pacific (42%) and African Regions (33%).

Out of the 106 malaria-endemic countries covered in the report, 99 countries still had ongoing malaria transmission but 43 of them recorded significant decreases of more than 50% in the number of malaria cases, between 2000 and 2010. Another eight countries recorded decreases of more than 25%, the report said.

The report said that in October 2011, Armenia was certified by the World Health Organization as being finally free of malaria, becoming the fourth country in five years to be certified as malaria-free. The other three were the United Arab Emirates in 2007, Morocco in 2010, and Turkmenistan in 2010.

The WHO reported that the number The report estimates that a total of 655 000 persons died of malaria in 2010 with 86% of the victims being children under 5 years of age. of “long-lasting insecticidal nets” delivered to malaria-endemic countries in sub-Saharan Africa, increased from 88.5 million in 2009 to 145 million in 2010.

An estimated 50% of households in sub-Saharan Africa now have at least one bed net, and 96% of persons with access to the nets use them.