As global deaths slowly decline, Malaria still claims hundreds of thousands in Africa: Video
Malaria continues to be a major health concern around the world, and almost half of the global population is at risk of infection.
In 2022, the disease killed about 608,000 people. Most of these deaths—76%—were among children under five. Africa is the hardest-hit region, making up 94% of all malaria cases globally.
Southern African countries like Botswana, eSwatini, Namibia, and Zimbabwe have recently reported fresh malaria outbreaks. This shows how hard it still is to eliminate the disease in the region.
Data from the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) shows a sharp rise in malaria cases in Zimbabwe. By week 23 of 2025, the country had reported 111,998 suspected cases and 310 deaths, with a case fatality rate of 0.27%. During the same period in 2024, there were 29,031 cases and 49 deaths.
It's not just Southern Africa seeing a rise. In Nigeria’s Kano State, officials recently confirmed 2 million cases of malaria infections.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates that there were 263 million malaria cases and 597,000 deaths in 83 countries in 2023. The African region continues to carry the biggest burden—94% of all malaria cases and 95% of malaria deaths happened there.
Children under five made up about 76% of all malaria deaths in the region.
This story is written and edited by the Global South World team, you can contact us here.
