Who gets malaria?

Each year, there are around 500 million malaria infections, which cause between 700,000 and 2.7 million deaths.1 Young children are most at risk, especially in Africa, where malaria is a leading cause of child mortality.

Among adults, those most at risk include travellers (around 30,000 each year) visiting areas where malaria transmission occurs and pregnant women in endemic areas of the world. Around 30,000 travellers contract malaria each year. People with HIV in endemic areas are also at risk of symptomatic malaria, due to their weakened immune systems.

References

  1. Hay SI et al. The global distribution and population at risk of malaria: past, present, and future. Lancet Infect Dis 4: 327-336, 2004
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