Malaria in Africa today.

Malaria kills one child every 30 seconds and more than I million people annually in Africa. According to the Africa Malaria Report-2003 the disease continues to take its greatest toll on very young children mostly under the age of five and pregnant women south of the Sahara. New analyses confirm that malaria is the principal cause of at least one fifth of all deaths of young children in the region. In endemic countries as many as one third of all clinic visits and at least a quarter of all hospital admissions are for malaria. The number of children dying from the disease rose substantially in eastern and southern Africa during the first half of the 1990s compared with the 1980s. The Summit on Roll Back Malaria held in 2002 in Abuja Nigeria endorsed some relatively inexpensive yet effective control interventions already available including insecticide-treated nets (ITNs) that have proven to be highly effective in reducing mortality in young children. The use of these nets helps prevent the disease which is particularly important due to the increase in drug-resistant falciparum malaria parasites. There are now more children sleeping under nets and greater use of ITNs in Africa than ever before. (excerpt)