Climate Change Threatens Malaria Progress – WHO Report

The WHO launches its annual World Malaria Report at COP28, the UN's Climate Change Conference. Transcript The World Health Organization (WHO) has released its World Malaria Report for 2023 at the start of COP28, the UN's Climate Change Conference. The headline figures are concerning. The WHO estimates that there were 249 million cases of malaria last year, resulting in 608000 deaths. These figures surpass pre-pandemic levels, with five countries bearing the brunt of this increase. This year, the report stressed the importance of climate change to malaria. Released at the start of COP, during its first-ever Health Day, it argues that extreme weather events, the frequency of which increase with global warming, could lead to unexpected outbreaks of malaria. In Pakistan, for example, there were an additional two million malaria cases as a result of flooding. Yet, looking beyond the raw numbers reveals a more nuanced reality. Malaria incidence – that's the number of cases for every thousand people at risk – has fallen since the year 2000. But, despite averting over 2 billion cases globally, progress has stalled. Since 2015, malaria incidence has remained largely constant. We're currently 55% off track of the WHO's targets. Source WHO World Malaria Report 2023 About The Podcast The Johns Hopkins Malaria Minute podcast is produced by the Johns Hopkins Malaria Research Institute to highlight impactful malaria research and to share it with the global community.