Malaria cases worldwide rise for fifth year in a row killing almost 600,000, says WHO report

Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO director general, said: 'No one should die of malaria; yet the disease continues to disproportionately harm people living in the African region, especially young children and pregnant women.'

Resistance to drugs that have been the gold-standard treatment for malaria is spreading, the report said, and mosquitoes are increasingly resistant to the insecticides used to treat bed nets. File photo

Malaria killed almost 600,000 people in 2023, as cases rose for the fifth consecutive year, according to a new report from the World Health Organization (WHO).

Biological threats such as rising resistance to drugs and insecticides, and climate and humanitarian disasters continue to hamper control efforts, world health leaders warned.