Malaria continues to be a major global health problem, with over 40% of the world’s population—more than 3.3 billion people—at risk for malaria to varying degrees in countries with on-going transmission. In addition, with modern, rapid means of travel, large numbers of people from nonmalarious areas are being infected, which may seriously affect them after they have returned home.

The World Malaria Report 2012 summarizes information received from 104 malaria-endemic countries and other sources, and updates the analyses presented in the 2011 report. It highlights the progress made towards the global malaria targets set for 2015 and describes current challenges for global malaria control and elimination.

The World Health Organization estimates that half the world’s population is at risk of malaria, with an estimated 216 million people (range 149–274 million) developing clinical malaria in 2010 (81% in Africa), and 655,000 deaths (range 537,000–907,000) due to malaria (91% in Africa, most being children).

La nueva iniciativa del Programa Mundial sobre la Malaria de la OMS – T3: Test. Treat. Track. (Testee. Trate. Vigile) – apoya a países endémicos en sus esfuerzos para alcanzar la cobertura universal con pruebas de diagnóstico y tratamiento antimalárico, así como fortaleciendo sus sistemas de vigilancia.

Reports of the WHOPES Working Group Meetings and the WHOPES publication Pesticides and their application for control of vectors and pests of public health importance should be consulted for guidance on use and recommendations.

Reports of the WHOPES Working Group Meetings should be consulted for detailed guidance on use and recommendations

A malaria surveillance system consists of the tools, procedures, people and structures that generate information on malaria cases and deaths, which can be used for planning, monitoring and evaluating malaria control programmes.

The aim of the elimination phase is to stop local transmission of malaria, in contrast to the control phase, in which the objective is to reduce the number of cases to low levels but not necessarily interrupt local transmission.

Management in malaria vectors (GPIRM) is a call to action. Through this document, WHO and the Roll Back Malaria Partnership call on governments of malaria-endemic countries, donor organizations, UN agencies, as well as research and industry partners, to implement a five-pillar strategy to tackle the growing threat of insecticide resistance and to facilitate the development of innovative vector control tools and strategies. 

Pesticide procurement is a highly specialized and complex subject. Expertise is required to ensure that appropriate high-quality pesticide products are procured rapidly, effi ciently, economically and in a fair and transparent manner. It also requires the existence of national policies and guidelines, with clear and transparent procedures supported by appropriate legal provisions and controls.

In view of the increasing demand of countries to scale-up malaria diagnostics following the largescale introduction of expensive antimalarial medicines, and the decreasing malaria trends in many countries, there is a need for guidance in the selection of malaria rapid diagnostics that meet international quality standards.

The aim of this interagency manual is to provide policy, strategy, technical and operational guidance to countries wishing to strengthen or set up routine malaria diagnostic services. These services include the use of both microscopy and rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs) at all levels for the management of febrile patients by health workers and are integrated within other national programmes for strengthening laboratory services.

Achieving adequate concentrations of antimalarial drugs in the blood is pivotal to curing malaria. Accurate measurement of drug concentrations is essential to ensure optimal dosing of the currently available and newly introduced antimalarial drugs and for differentiating inadequate exposure to a drug from true resistance to the drug.

This report is the third in a series of laboratory-based evaluations of malaria RDTs. It provides a comparative measure of RDT performance in a standardized way to distinguish between well and poorly performing tests to inform procurement decisions of malaria control programmes and guide UN procurement policy.

El manejo de los casos de malaria es un componente vital de las estrategias para el control de la malaria. Consiste en el diagnóstico temprano y el tratamiento rápido con antimaláricos eficaces. En las Directrices de la OMS para el tratamiento de la malaria, publicadas por primera vez en el 2006, se presentan recomendaciones mundiales basadas en datos probatorios sobre el manejo de los casos de malaria, dirigidas principalmente a las instancias normativas a nivel de país...

Las pruebas de diagnóstico rápido (PDR) han hecho posible el acceso al diagnóstico de la malaria en las zonas remotas donde no se dispone de microscopia; sin embargo, estas pruebas son sensibles a las temperaturas elevadas, que pueden dañarlas y reducir su tiempo de conservación.

Las pruebas de diagnóstico rápido (PDR) se han vuelto cada vez más importantes para el diagnóstico de la malaria en las zonas remotas donde no se dispone de microscopia de buena calidad.

La Organización Mundial de la Salud calcula que la mitad de la población mundial corre el riesgo de contraer la malaria. El año pasado, 243 millones de personas presentaron malaria clínica (86% en África), con casi 863.000 muertes (89% en África, la mayor parte de ellos, niños).

En los últimos años, todos los países que comparten la cuenca del Amazonas han experimentado un descenso dramático de los casos de malaria. El número de casos de malaria en los países que forman parte de la AMI se ha reducido de 962,325 casos en el año 2000, a 668,687 en el año 2007 con un descenso del 30% en este período.

La epidemiología del paludismo en América Latina, ha evolucionado a lo largo de la década pasada a una situación marcada por la reducción de la incidencia de la malaria, especialmente de la malaria transmitida por Plasmodium falciparum.

The World Health Organization estimates that half the world’s population are at risk of malaria, with 243 million people developing clinical malaria last year (86% in Africa), with nearly 863,000 deaths (89% in Africa, most being children).

The adoption and use of expensive artemisinin-based antimalarial therapies in the past few years is unprecedented but has not been matched by a similar increase in parasitological confirmation of malaria diagnoses. Targeted treatment is important, not only to limit unnecessary dispensing of antimalarial treatment but also to allow judicious use of these precious, life-saving medicines, for which the supply of raw materials is decreasing because of reduced cultivation of Artemisia annua.

In view of the increasing demand of countries to scale-up malaria diagnostics following the large-scale introduction of expensive antimalarial medicines, and the decreasing malaria trends in many countries, there is a need to provide clear guidance on the criteria for selecting malaria diagnostics meeting international quality standards.

Con la información sobre la situación del paludismo que los países miembros comparten oficialmente con la Organización Panamericana de la Salud (OPS), el Proyecto Prevención y control de enfermedades transmisibles elabora este informe anual sobre la situación de la enfermedad en las américas.

9 de marzo de 2010 | Ginebra - La Organización Mundial de la Salud está dando a conocer unas nuevas directrices para el tratamiento del paludismo, así como las primeras orientaciones hasta ahora publicadas sobre la adquisición de medicamentos seguros y eficaces contra esa enfermedad.

WHO Press Release | français

The World Health Organization estimates that half the world’s population are at risk of malaria, with 243 million people developing clinical malaria last year (86% in Africa), with nearly 863,000 deaths (89% in Africa, most being children). Malaria remains endemic in 108 countries, and while parasitebased diagnosis is increasing, most suspected cases of malaria are still not properly identified, resulting in over-use of anti-malarial drugs and poor disease monitoring.

There have been many challenges in the development and consolidation of this Regional Strategic Plan for Malaria which focuses on the 2006–2010 period. It takes into account the need for continuous efforts to achieve specific goals as well as the reduction of the burden on human health and the negative social and economic effects of the disease among the most affected population groups. Nevertheless, there is consensus that strategies must be of optimum relevance to the realities of the malaria situation in the region and among its member territories.

A WHO Technical Consultation on Specifications for Prepackaging Antimalarial Medicines was held in Geneva, Switzerland, from 2 to 4 September 2003.

El objetivo de este documento es ayudar los afectados a planificar, promover y aplicar los programas de mosquiteros tratados con insecticida (ITN, siglas en inglés por insecticide-treated netting) para que tomen decisiones sistemáticas sobre cómo proyectar eficazmente los fondos públicos. Se basa en una semana de diálogo intensivo-el cual refleja experiencias de campo en 12 países africanos-en un taller sobre el Mapeo de los modelos para los subsidios proyectados de ITN.

(Disponible en Français también)

The purpose of this document is to provide specific and standardized procedures and guidelines for testing long-lasting insecticidal mosquito nets (LNs) for personal protection and malaria control. It is intended to harmonize the testing procedures carried out to generate data for registration and labelling of such products by national authorities.

The objective of this document is to provide guidance in the performance of a situation analysis aimed at identifying the weaknesses, strengths and needs for strengthening a country's public health pesticide management practices.

Misdiagnosis of malaria results in significant morbidity and mortality. Rapid, accurate and accessible detection of malaria parasites has an important role in addressing this, and in promoting more rational use of increasingly costly drugs, in many endemic areas. Rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs) offer the potential to provide accurate diagnosis to all at-risk populations for the first time, reaching those unable to access good quality microscopy services.

La resistencia del Plasmodium falciparum a los medicamentos antimaláricos es un problema que dificulta el control de la malaria en las Américas. En la actualidad, el P. falciparum es resistente a la cloroquina (CQ) y la sulfadoxina-pirimetamina (SP) en casi toda la región amazónica y a la CQ en la Costa del Pacifico de Sudamérica.

Various artemisinin compounds have been used as treatment for different forms of malaria since the early 1980s, initially in China, where they were first developed, and subsequently in many other countries.

La visita se realizó en Oaxaca, México del 1 al 6 de septiembre de 2003. El equipo de evaluación estuvo constituído por los Dres. Monica Parise, Trenton Ruebush y Kevin Griffith de los CDC de los US/PHS (Atlanta, José A. Nájera, ex-Director de la DIvisión de Control de Enfermedades Tropicales de la OMS y Keith Carter, Melanie de Boer y Francisco Paniagua de la OPS. 

Early, rapid diagnosis of malaria is gaining increasing importance in health programmes in endemic countries in response to increasing drug costs and recognition of the importance of early, correct treatment to the reduction in malaria morbidity and mortality.

The RBM community movement is both an active participant in malaria programmes and a political force intended to bring pressure upon governments to ensure that the health care needs of those most at risk of malaria are met. Evidence-based actions underpin all operations.

A WHO Technical Consultation on Antimalarial Combination Therapy was held in Geneva, Switzerland on 4 and 5 April 2001. Participants reflected a wide range of expertise in the development and use of antimalarial drugs.

This training manual is aimed at drainage workers in community sanitation (public works). Its goal is to educate on how to improve sanitation conditions that play a role in disease transmission, not only of mosquito-borne diseases such as dengue, malaria, yellow fever and West Nile virus, but of others related to bacterial pathogens and carried by rats and flies.