No child should ever die from a mosquito bite. Yet, today, in an era of extraordinary medical advancement, a child dies of mosquito-borne malaria every two minutes. Last year, this agonizing blood disease caused by the malaria parasite claimed nearly half a million lives—most of them children.
Still, there’s unprecedented cause for optimism. After 15 years of coordinated efforts to fight malaria, we’re seeing progress: Malaria deaths have declined 60 percent since 2000, meaning more than six million lives have been saved. During that same period, an analysis by the Roll Back Malaria initiative shows that 57 countries have reduced malaria cases by 75 percent or more.
