World Malaria Day is a day marked to highlight the global efforts to control malaria and celebrate the gains that have been made. Since 2000, the world has made historic progress against malaria, saving millions of lives. However, half the world still lives at risk from this preventable, treatable disease, which costs a child’s life every two minutes. Therefore this is a day to also highlight the need to step up the fight to accelerate progress against the preventable and treatable disease. 

The theme for World Malaria Day 2019 - ‘Zero Malaria Starts with Me’ – aims to empower individuals across the world to make a personal commitment to saving millions more lives, and help communities and economies to thrive by ending malaria. 

Decades of significant progress against the disease have slowed as cases of malaria increased in 2016 and 2017, after more than a decade of steep decline. This global campaign seeks to re-energise the fight to eliminate the disease, which still threatens half of the global population and kills one child every two minutes.

World Malaria Day presents an opportunity to engage global leaders, civil society, the private sector, academic institutions and the general public in countries around the world. 

Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, World Health Organization  Director-General said:

“Globally, the world has made incredible progress against malaria. But we are still too far from the end point we seek: a world free of malaria. Every year, the global tally of new malaria cases exceeds 200 million. And every 2 minutes, a child dies from this preventable and treatable disease. The damage inflicted extends far beyond loss of life: malaria takes a heavy toll on health systems, sapping productivity and eroding economic growth. Ultimately, investing in universal health care is the best way to ensure that all communities have access to the services they need to beat malaria. Individual and community empowerment through grassroots initiatives like Zero malaria starts with me can also play a critical role in driving progress.”