World Malaria Day (WMD) is an

international observance Lists of holidays by various categorizations. Religious holidays Abrahamic holidays (Middle Eastern) Christian holidays *Christmas (Nativity of Jesus, Nativity of Jesus Christ, the beginning of Christmastide) *Solemnity of Mary, Mother ...

commemorated every year on 25 April and recognizes global efforts to control

malaria Malaria is a Mosquito-borne disease, mosquito-borne infectious disease that affects vertebrates and ''Anopheles'' mosquitoes. Human malaria causes Signs and symptoms, symptoms that typically include fever, Fatigue (medical), fatigue, vomitin ...

. Globally, 3.3 billion people in 106 countries are at risk of

.World Health Organizatio
''World Malaria Report 2010''.
/ref> In 2012, malaria caused an estimated 627,000 deaths, mostly among African children.

Asia Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...

Latin America Latin America is the cultural region of the Americas where Romance languages are predominantly spoken, primarily Spanish language, Spanish and Portuguese language, Portuguese. Latin America is defined according to cultural identity, not geogr ...

, and to a lesser extent the

Middle East The Middle East (term originally coined in English language) is a geopolitical region encompassing the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant, Turkey, Egypt, Iran, and Iraq. The term came into widespread usage by the United Kingdom and western Eur ...

and parts of Europe are also affected. World Malaria Day sprang out of the efforts taking place across the African continent to commemorate Africa Malaria Day. WMD is one of 11 official global public health campaigns currently marked by the

World Health Organization The World Health Organization (WHO) is a list of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations which coordinates responses to international public health issues and emergencies. It is headquartered in Gen ...

(WHO), along with

World Health Day World Health Day is a global health awareness day celebrated every year on 7 April, under the sponsorship of the World Health Organization (WHO), as well as other related organizations. In 1948, the WHO held the First World Health Assembly. Th ...

, World Blood Donor Day,

World Immunization Week World Immunization Week is a global public health campaign to raise awareness and increase rates of immunization against vaccine-preventable diseases around the world. It takes place each year during the last week of April (24th - 30th). Immuniz ...

, World Antimicrobial Awareness Week,

World Patient Safety Day World Patient Safety Day (WPSD), observed annually on 17 September, aims to raise global awareness about patient safety and call for solidarity and united action by all countries and international partners to reduce patient harm. Patient safety ...

World Tuberculosis Day World Tuberculosis Day, observed on 24 March each year, is designed to build public awareness about the global epidemic of tuberculosis (TB) and efforts to eliminate the disease. In 2018, 10 million people fell ill with TB, and 1.5 million di ...

, World Chagas Disease Day, World No Tobacco Day,

World Hepatitis Day World Hepatitis Day, observed on July 28 every year, aims to raise global awareness of hepatitis — a group of infectious diseases known as hepatitis A, B, C, D, and E — and encourage prevention, diagnosis and treatment. Hepatitis affec ...

and

World AIDS Day World AIDS Day, designated on 1 December every year since 1988, is an international day dedicated to raising awareness of the AIDS pandemic caused by the spread of HIV infection and mourning those who have died of the disease. The acquired immu ...

. According to the most recent World Malaria Report, the global tally of malaria reached 429,000

deaths and 212 million new cases in 2015. The rate of new

cases fell by 21 per cent globally between 2010 and 2015, and malaria death rates fell by 29 per cent in the same period. In

sub-Saharan Africa Sub-Saharan Africa is the area and regions of the continent of Africa that lie south of the Sahara. These include Central Africa, East Africa, Southern Africa, and West Africa. Geopolitically, in addition to the list of sovereign states and ...

, case incidence and death rates fell by 21 per cent and 31 per cent, respectively.

History

World Malaria Day was established in May 2007 by the 60th session of the

World Health Assembly The World Health Assembly (WHA) is the forum through which the World Health Organization (WHO) is governed by its 194 World Health Organization#Membership, member states. It is the world's highest health policy setting body and is composed of h ...

, WHO's decision-making body. The day was established to provide "education and understanding of malaria" and spread information on "year-long intensified implementation of national malaria-control strategies, including community-based activities for malaria prevention and treatment in endemic areas." Prior to the establishment of WMD, Africa Malaria Day was held on April 25. Africa Malaria Day began in 2001, one year after the historic ''Abuja Declaration'' was signed by 44 malaria-endemic countries at the African Summit on Malaria. World Malaria Day allows for corporations (such as

ExxonMobil Exxon Mobil Corporation ( ) is an American multinational List of oil exploration and production companies, oil and gas corporation headquartered in Spring, Texas, a suburb of Houston. Founded as the Successors of Standard Oil, largest direct s ...

), multinational organizations (such as

Malaria No More Malaria No More is a nonprofit organization that seeks to eradicate malaria. The organization has offices in the United States, as well as affiliates in India, Japan and the United Kingdom, and is known for its participation in the Idol Gives B ...

) and grassroots organizations (such as Mosquitoes Suck Tour) globally to work together to bring awareness to malaria and advocate for

policy Policy is a deliberate system of guidelines to guide decisions and achieve rational outcomes. A policy is a statement of intent and is implemented as a procedure or protocol. Policies are generally adopted by a governance body within an or ...

changes.

Themes

Each World Malaria Day focuses on a specific theme. Current and past themes include the following: *World Malaria Day 2025: "Malaria Ends with Us: Reinvest, Reimagine, Reignite" *World Malaria Day 2024: "Accelerating the fight against malaria for a more equitable world", *World Malaria Day 2023: “Time to deliver zero malaria: invest, innovate, implement” *World Malaria Day 2022: "Harness

innovation Innovation is the practical implementation of ideas that result in the introduction of new goods or service (economics), services or improvement in offering goods or services. ISO TC 279 in the standard ISO 56000:2020 defines innovation as "a n ...

to reduce the malaria

disease burden Disease burden is the impact of a health problem as measured by financial cost, mortality, morbidity, or other indicators. It is often quantified in terms of quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) or disability-adjusted life years (DALYs). Both ...

and save lives." *World Malaria Day 2019-2020-2021: "Zero malaria starts with me" *World Malaria Day 2018: "Ready to beat malaria" *World Malaria Day 2017: "LETS Close The Gap" *World Malaria Day 2016: "End Malaria For Good" *World Malaria Day 2013-2014-2015: "Invest in the future: defeat malaria" *World Malaria Day 2012: "Sustain Gains, Save Lives: Invest in Malaria" *World Malaria Day 2011: "Achieving Progress and Impact" *World Malaria Day 2009-2010: "Counting malaria out" *World Malaria Day 2008: "Malaria: a disease without borders"

Global Events

Europe

Leading to World Malaria Day 2014, the European Vaccine Initiative announced sixteen new projects for the acceleration of malaria vaccine development. The projects were to be undertaken by an international consortium involving partners from the public and private sectors from Europe, USA and Africa.

India

For World Malaria Day 2017, efforts across India included a series of measures to control the spread of this vector-borne disease. The coastal city of Mangaluru identified open water resources to target for eliminating mosquitos that spread malaria.

Nigeria

Events marking World Malaria Day 2014 in

Nigeria Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It covers an area of . With Demographics of Nigeria, ...

included a demonstration of anti-malarial bed nets, testing and distribution of anti-malarial drugs, seminars on progress in combating and controlling malaria, and the inclusion of African footballers in the campaign to combat malaria. As of 2016, the Federal Ministry of Health has pledged to end Malaria. The U.S. Ambassador to Nigeria, James F. Entwistle, has pledged continued support and noted the possibility of ending Malaria in Nigeria.

United States

April 25 was designated as ''Malaria Awareness Day'' in 2007 by President

George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician and businessman who was the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Bush family and the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he i ...

, who called on Americans to join in on the goal to eradicate malaria on the African continent.George W. Bush. The White House: Office of the Press Secretary
Malaria Awareness Day, 2007.
24 April 2007. President Bush described it as a day when "we focus our attention on all who suffer from this terrible disease -- especially the millions on the continent of Africa. We remember the millions more who died from this entirely preventable and treatable disease." President Bush shared the White House's strategic plan against malaria, which included endeavors to distribute bed nets with the New York-based nonprofit group

.The White House: Office of the Press Secretary
President Bush and Mrs. Bush Discuss Malaria Awareness Day.
25 April 2007. Other former U.S. Presidents are involved in anti-malaria efforts. Former President

Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton (né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician and lawyer who was the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, ...

Clinton Foundation The Clinton Foundation (founded in 2001 as the William J. Clinton Presidential Foundation, and renamed in 2013 as the Bill, Hillary & Chelsea Clinton Foundation) is a nonprofit organization under section 501(c)(3) of the U.S. tax code. It was e ...

includes an anti-malaria component that, according to director Inder Singh has distributed anti-malaria drugs to millions in Africa and Asia.BEP grad Inder Singh orchestrates affordable malaria drug development
, Harvard-MIT Health Sciences. Many prominent companies, organizations, and celebrities have declared initiatives to join the fight against malaria to mark this day. These include a $3 million "challenge grant" announced by

to match donations dollar by dollar to

, as part of the "

Idol Gives Back ''Idol Gives Back'' was a charitable campaign that spanned two episodes of ''American Idol'' during its sixth season. A second ''Idol Gives Back'' concert and fundraiser occurred on April 9, 2008, during the seventh season of the show. ''Idol ...

" episodes of ''

American Idol ''American Idol'' is an American Music competition, singing competition television series created by Simon Fuller, produced by Fremantle (company), Fremantle North America and 19 Entertainment, and distributed by Fremantle North America. It a ...

'', which was aired on Malaria Awareness Day.

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a professional Association football, soccer league in North America and the highest level of the United States soccer league system. It comprises 30 teams, with 27 in the United States and 3 in Canada, and is sanc ...

Commissioner

Don Garber Donald P. Garber (born October 9, 1957) is an American sports executive who has been the commissioner of Major League Soccer (MLS) since 1999. Garber is also the CEO of Soccer United Marketing and a member of the United States Soccer Federatio ...

also announced that the league would promote malaria awareness and bed net fundraising promotions in the month of April leading up to Malaria Awareness Day. Actress

Ashley Judd Ashley Tyler Ciminella, known professionally as Ashley Judd (born April 19, 1968), is an American actress and activist. She grew up in a family of performing artists, the daughter of country music singer Naomi Judd and the half-sister of country ...

announced the April launch of a new initiative called "5 & Alive", which will focus on the devastating effects of malaria on children under 5. The

Boys & Girls Clubs of America Boys & Girls Clubs of America (BGCA) is a national organization of local chapters which provide voluntary after-school programs for young people. The organization, which holds a congressional charter under Title 36 of the United States Code, has i ...

announced their own national campaign called "Malaria Prevention: Deadly Disease. Simple Solution", which will partner with Malaria No More to approach all 4.7 Million Club members worldwide to ask for $10 bed net donations.Malaria No More
Run up to April 25, the First Malaria Awareness Day in the US.
29 March 2007. The movement is not without its critics, such as the African economist

Dambisa Moyo Dambisa Felicia Moyo, Baroness Moyo (born 2 February 1969)Moyo showed a copy of an official document with her date and place of birth as part of a lecture she gave at TEDGlobal 2013, Edinburgh, Scotland. is a Zambian-born economist and author ...

, who warns that the short term benefits of aid such as mosquito nets can have long term detrimental effects to the sustainability of African economies. When the markets are flooded with foreign nets then this puts African entrepreneurs out of business.

References

External links

World Malaria Day WHO websiteRoll Back Malaria Partnership - World Malaria DayMALARIA.com - World Malaria DayWHO Global Malaria Programme
{{malaria Recurring events established in 2007 Malaria Health awareness days International observances United Nations days April observances World Health Organization fr:Journée mondiale du paludisme ru:Всемирный день борьбы против малярии zh:世界疟疾日