MalariaDay

Malaria continues to haunt 40% of the world's population. It infects more than 500 million people per year and kills more than 1 million. The burden of malaria is heaviest in sub-Saharan Africa but the disease also afflicts Asia, Latin America, the Middle East and even parts of Europe.

World Malaria Day - which was instituted by the World Health Assembly at its 60th session in May 2007 - is a day for recognizing the global effort to provide effective control of malaria. It is an opportunity:

	for countries in the affected regions to learn from each other's experiences and support each other's efforts;
	for new donors to join a global partnership against malaria;
	for research and academic institutions to flag their scientific advances to both experts and general public; and
	for international partners, companies and foundations to showcase their efforts and reflect on how to scale up what has worked.

On this year's World Malaria Day, the Roll Back Malaria Partnership - which includes WHO - will focus on malaria as a global health problem. The partners will engage the international community in their fight against malaria.

The Global malaria Programme (GMP) is part of the WHO, the foremost global authority on health.

GMP is responsible for malaria surveillance, monitoring and evaluation, policy and strategy formulation, technical assistance, and coordination of WHO's global efforts to fight malaria.

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