Malaria: Global progress 2000 – 2015 and future challenges
Infectious Diseases of Poverty·
- DOI
- 10.1186/s40249-016-0151-8
- PMID
- 27282148
- PMCID
- PMC4901420
- OpenAlex
- W2414887958
- Study type
- Commentary
- Publisher
- Springer Science and Business Media LLC
- Article type
- journal-article
- Integrity
- current
Why this research matters now
Malaria interventions are described as highly cost-effective, contributing to health targets of the Sustainable Development Goals while transforming well-being and livelihoods in some of the poorest communities globally. Progress is challenged by concentration of malaria in countries with the least resourced health systems and least ability to fund improvements.
Structured evidence summary
Research question
This commentary reviews global malaria progress toward 2015 targets set by the World Health Assembly and other international institutions, examining program financing, intervention coverage, and disease burden reductions between 2000 and 2015.
Study design
This is a commentary reviewing progress in malaria program financing, intervention coverage, and burden reduction. The analysis attributes estimated proportions of disease reductions to interventions and estimates cost savings to public providers.
Population and setting
The review focuses on global progress across all WHO regions, with particular emphasis on sub-Saharan Africa where malaria burden is concentrated. The analysis highlights countries with the largest case and death numbers in 2000 and areas with the least resourced health systems.
Main findings
Malaria program investments increased more than 2.5-fold from US$960 million in 2005 to US$2.5 billion in 2014. Insecticide-treated net coverage in sub-Saharan Africa rose from 2% in 2000 to over 50% in 2015. Globally, malaria incidence rates fell 37% and mortality rates declined 60% since 2000. An estimated 70% of case reductions in sub-Saharan Africa are attributed to malaria interventions, and approximately US$900 million in case management costs to public providers in sub-Saharan Africa were saved between 2000 and 2014.
Public-health relevance
Malaria interventions are described as highly cost-effective, contributing to health targets of the Sustainable Development Goals while transforming well-being and livelihoods in some of the poorest communities globally. Progress is challenged by concentration of malaria in countries with the least resourced health systems and least ability to fund improvements.
Important limitations
The abstract notes that reductions in incidence and mortality were slowest in countries with the largest numbers of cases and deaths in 2000, and that incidence reductions need to be greatly accelerated in these countries to achieve future targets. This summary is limited to the supplied single-article abstract and metadata; the original paper is required for decision-grade interpretation of methods, data sources, attribution models, and cost-effectiveness estimates.
GIDS interpretation
This commentary appeared in a peer-reviewed infectious disease journal and is classified under malaria, diagnostics, surveillance, and treatment topics. It provides historical context on global malaria program progress through 2015 and may inform understanding of intervention scale-up timelines and cost-effectiveness in resource-limited settings.
Related GIDS surveillance
Literature context does not validate, explain, or change a surveillance signal. Exact and contextual relationships are shown separately.
Evidence relationships
This article has 8 auditable classifier relationships to diseases, places, topics, and study design.