Health Programs

How is Africa impacted by malaria?

Approximately 90 percent of the 1 million deaths from malaria each year occur in Africa.  Twenty percent of all deaths in African children under five years of age are thought to be due to malaria and overall, malaria constitutes 10 percent of the continent's disease burden.  Malaria impacts individuals and, in turn, communities and countries.  Highly malarious countries are among the very poorest in the world and typically have very low rates of economic growth; many have experienced outright declines in living standards in the past 30 years. Because of the epidemic nature of malaria in Ethiopia, school children and adults are also affected.