NAIROBI, Kenya, Oct 8— Africa is off track to meet its malaria reduction targets, with climate change, biological resistance, shrinking donor funding and inadequate intervention coverage threatening efforts to eliminate the disease by 2030, the World Health Organization has warned.

📻 Breaking It Down

WHO Kenya Deputy Representative Dr. Boston Zimba said the continent accounted for 94 per cent of global malaria cases and 95 per cent of malaria deaths in 2024, as the disease continues to pose a major public health challenge across sub-Saharan Africa.

According to the World Malaria Report 2025 , an estimated 282 million malaria cases were recorded globally in 2024, nine million more than the previous year.

“Analysis of the progress towards meeting Global Technical Strategy (GTS) 2025 targets shows that in 2024 the African region was off track for both malaria morbidity and mortality milestones,” Zimba said in a keynote address at the 2nd East African Community Malaria Stakeholders Meeting in Nairobi.

📌 What You Need to Know

The meeting brings together malaria experts, researchers, policymakers and development partners from East Africa and beyond to assess progress towards the region’s 2030 elimination target.

Zimba identified six priorities that he said should guide the continent’s malaria response: political leadership and advocacy; innovation and new tools; data and digital health; health financing and quality of care; tackling emerging biological threats; and addressing the intersection between climate change, health and malaria.

Zimba singled out climate change as one of the factors threatening progress, saying changing weather patterns are creating conditions that can alter malaria transmission across the continent.

“Climate change has become a crisis, especially for vulnerable regions and populations,” he said.

He said flooding, temperature variations and high humidity can create mosquito breeding sites and improve mosquito survival, potentially changing transmission patterns in different parts of Africa.

“The implication is that programmes must incorporate in their intervention mixes, programme design and implementation approaches the effects of climate change to ensure proper adaptation and strategies,” Zimba said.

📰 Source: Capital FM Kenya