Malaria

Malaria is a mosquito-borne disease caused by a parasite called Plasmodium. When infected mosquitoes bite the human body, the parasites multiply in the liver and then infect red blood cells. Even though this potentially fatal disease can be prevented and cured, each year 350-500 million cases of malaria still occur worldwide, and over one million people die.

The Effect of Climate Change on Malaria

In commemoration of World Malaria Day, 2021, we look at the relationship between malaria transmission and climate change.

What is Malaria?

Malaria Epidemiology

Malaria Causes

The Science Behind Why Mosquitoes Prefer to Bite Certain People

Driving the Self-Destruction of Malaria-Transmitting Mosquitos

Malaria Society And Culture

Malaria Prevention

Malaria Treatment

World Malaria Day 2021: Finding new approaches to fight malaria

Malaria Mechanism

Malaria: A Force Shaping Blood Cell Evolution?

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Malaria History

What is Cerebral Malaria?

Malaria Symptoms

Fighting malaria in 2021: Where are we now and where are we going?

World Malaria Day 2021: An interview with Sir Brian Greenwood

Malaria Diagnosis

Latest Malaria News and Research

WHO condemns violence amid escalating crisis in North Darfur's El Fasher

The World Health Organization (WHO) condemns the reported killing of more than 460 patients and their companions, as well as the abduction of six health workers, on 28 October from the Saudi Maternity Hospital in El Fasher.

30 Oct 2025

Plant-based diets could curb climate change and infectious diseases, experts say

A new review in Open Forum Infectious Diseases links animal agriculture to climate change, antimicrobial resistance, and infectious disease spread. The authors urge healthcare providers to promote plant-based diets as a practical step to protect planetary and public health.

28 Oct 2025

Using AI and citizen science for vector-borne disease surveillance

Researchers from the University of South Florida have used artificial intelligence and citizen science to identify what may be the first specimen of Anopheles stephensi - an invasive and deadly malaria-carrying mosquito - ever detected in Madagascar.

28 Oct 2025

Global study maps how trade and travel fuel the worldwide spread of disease-carrying mosquitoes

Researchers compiled the first global database tracing how, when, and where non-native mosquito species that transmit human diseases have spread and established. The study reveals accelerating introductions since 1950, driven by trade, transport, and socio-environmental factors, highlighting actionable hotspots for global surveillance.

23 Oct 2025

US funding cuts threaten decades of progress in pediatric tuberculosis

A new study projects that US funding cuts to global health aid will have a catastrophic effect on pediatric TB, with children in Sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia likely to experience a significant spike in preventable cases and deaths over the next decade-even by the most conservative estimates-unless funding is restored.

21 Oct 2025

Global leaders unite to invest in health for economic growth

The World Bank Group, the Government of Japan, and the World Health Organization officially launched the Health Works Leaders Coalition.

17 Oct 2025

Montreal chemists develop fast DNA-based sensor for drug monitoring

Chemists at Université de Montréal have developed "signaling cascades" made with DNA molecules to report and quantify the concentration of various molecules in a drop of blood, all within 5 minutes.

16 Oct 2025

New insights into malaria proteins offer pathway to blocking parasite transmission

Using millions of microscope images magnified up to 130,000 times, researchers from Radboud university medical center and Toronto have unraveled the structure of two key proteins in the malaria parasite.

10 Oct 2025

PAHO concludes 62nd Directing Council with Strategic Plan 2026-2031 for healthier Americas

The 62nd Directing Council of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) concluded today, setting a bold agenda to address pressing health challenges across the Americas through the approval of the PAHO Strategic Plan 2026-2031 and key resolutions aimed at expanding access to high-cost high price health technologies, and preventing and controlling noncommunicable diseases (NCDs).

6 Oct 2025

PAHO introduces new tool to accelerate disease elimination in the Americas

During a briefing session at the 62nd Directing Council of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), officials presented a new technical tool to help countries in the Region of the Americas accelerate the elimination of more than 30 communicable diseases and related conditions.

6 Oct 2025

KFF Health News' 'What the Health?': Democrats make this shutdown about the ACA

As long predicted, much of the federal government shut down on Oct. 1, after Congress failed to agree on spending bills that keep most programs running.

2 Oct 2025

Advancing patient safety for children: building safer systems from birth

Laís Junqueira discusses patient safety challenges in pediatric care and the need for system-level innovations to protect children and newborns effectively.

2 Oct 2025

Genomic studies reveal human influence on mosquito evolution and disease spread

Two of the world's deadliest mosquito vectors – Aedes aegypti and Anopheles funestus – have evolved, spread, and adapted in ways that complicate global disease control, two studies show.

18 Sep 2025

Climate change is already driving heat mortality and massive economic losses

Researchers systematically identified just 20 studies directly linking human-driven climate change to specific health impacts and deaths worldwide. They estimate tens of billions in annual economic losses and warn of inequities in research leadership and data coverage.

18 Sep 2025

Genetic study reveals how Anopheles funestus adapts to malaria control

New research into the genetics of Anopheles funestus (An. funestus), one of the most neglected but prolific malaria-transmitting mosquitoes in Africa, has revealed how this species is evolving in response to malaria control efforts.

18 Sep 2025

Rwanda confronts a surprising surge in malaria

After years of progress in reducing malaria cases, Rwanda is confronting a surprising resurgence and signs of treatment resistance that have forced officials to revisit vaccine intervention the country once declined.

15 Sep 2025

Protecting Indigenous territories in the Amazon supports human health

Protecting Indigenous territories in areas of the Amazon rainforest with high levels of forest cover may help reduce the number of cases of several diseases (including malaria and respiratory conditions) in the surrounding areas.

11 Sep 2025

Climate activists cite health hazards in bid to stop Trump from ‘unleashing’ fossil fuels

In 2023, a group of 16 young Montanans won a much-heralded climate change case that said the state had deprived them of a "clean and healthful environment," a right enshrined in Montana's constitution.

11 Sep 2025

Dengue infection leaves lasting genetic imprint on immunity

Just as a computer's operating system can be rewritten after a major update, dengue infection can 're-programme' the body's immune system, leaving a long-lasting genetic imprint that influences how people respond to future infections-an effect not seen with vaccination.

9 Sep 2025

New class of insecticide offers yearlong protection against mosquito-borne diseases

A relatively new class of insecticide that can be disseminated on something the size of a sheet of paper offers protection for up to a year against mosquitoes that spread malaria, as well as dengue, West Nile, yellow fever, and Zika, UC San Francisco researchers have found.

26 Aug 2025