Each year, WHO’s World malaria report offers in-depth information on the latest trends in malaria control and elimination at global, regional and country levels. The report highlights progress towards global targets and describes opportunities and challenges for curbing and eliminating the disease. This year’s report includes three new sections on: (1) global and regional initiatives launched in 2021 and 2022; (2) global malaria surveillance and country-level case studies on surveillance systems assessments; and (3) research and development. The report also includes an expanded section on threats to malaria control, with a focus on the declining effectiveness of insecticide-treated mosquito nets.

This year s report shows that after an unprecedented period of success in global malaria control progress has stalled. Data from 2015?2017 highlight that no significant progress in reducing global malaria cases was made in this period. There were an estimated 219 million cases and 435 000 related deaths in 2017. The World malaria report 2018 draws on data from 90 countries and areas with ongoing malaria transmission. The information is supplemented by data from national household surveys and databases held by other organizations.

On 18–20 April 2023, the WHO Malaria Policy Advisory Group (MPAG) convened to review updates and progress, and to provide guidance on thematic areas of work by the Global Malaria Programme. The meeting focused on the following topics: 1) the RBM Partnership to End Malaria evaluation of the “High burden to high impact” (HBHI) approach; 2) updates on the vector control, treatment and diagnostic recommendations in the WHO guidelines for malaria; 3) revisiting comparative effectiveness in the context of the arrival of new vector control products; 4) an update on certification of malaria elimination and the E-2025 Global Forum; 5) an update on the RTS,S/AS01 Malaria Vaccine Implementation Programme and WHO evidence review for the R21/Matrix-M vaccine; 6) an update on the work areas of the Strategic Information for Response Unit; 7) a report from the technical consultation on the effectiveness of rectal artesunate (RAS) and field implementation manual; 8) a report from the technical consultation on community-based delivery of intermittent preventive treatment of malaria in pregnancy (IPTp); 9) an update on the WHO/TDR field implementation manual for seasonal malaria chemoprevention (SMC); 10) an update on the Anopheles stephensi regional strategy; 11) an update on histidine-rich protein 2 (HRP2) gene deletions and global response plan; and 12) an update on antimalarial drug resistance in Africa.

On 4, 5 and 7 March 2024, the WHO Malaria Policy Advisory Group (MPAG) convened in Yaoundé, Cameroon, to review updates and progress, and to provide guidance on thematic areas of work by the Global Malaria Programme. The meeting focused on the following topics: malaria vaccine introduction and scale-up, and the Gavi-supported malaria learning agenda; the High burden to high impact (HBHI) approach; subnational tailoring; biological threats to vector control in Africa; the strategy to respond to antimalarial drug resistance in Africa; the development of guidelines recommendations on tafenoquine, primaquine and near-patient glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD) diagnostic tests to support radical cure of Plasmodium vivax; and malaria elimination, including zoonotic malaria.

On 30 October–1 November 2023, the WHO Malaria Policy Advisory Group (MPAG) convened to review updates and progress, and to provide guidance on thematic areas of work by the Global Malaria Programme. The meeting focused on the following topics: the Global Malaria Programme operational strategy 2024–2030; malaria vaccines R21/Matrix-M and RTS,S/AS01, the Malaria Vaccine Implementation Programme (MVIP) and status of malaria vaccine roll-out; guiding principles for prioritizing malaria interventions in resource-constrained settings to achieve maximum impact; progress and challenges on subnational tailoring of interventions; comparative effectiveness in the context of the arrival of new vector control products; the “High burden to high impact” (HBHI) approach; the WHO guidelines for malaria; antimalarial drug resistance in Africa; and the Mekong Malaria Elimination programme.

The World malaria report 2021 provides a comprehensive update on global and regional malaria data and trends. The report tracks investments in malaria programmes and research, as well as progress across all intervention areas: prevention, diagnosis, treatment, elimination and surveillance. It also includes dedicated chapters on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the global fight against malaria and on the burden of severe malaria in malaria endemic countries. The target audience is WHO and relevant UN offices at all levels, global partners, national malaria programmes, academia and the general public.

"The year 2020 is a milestone for several important health and development goals, including for efforts to reduce the burden of malaria overall and eliminate the disease where possible. It is 20 years since the Abuja Declaration and the launch of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs); and 5 years since the global agreement on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) framework and the launch of the World Health Organization (WHO) Global technical strategy for malaria 2016–2030 (GTS) and the RBM Partnership to End Malaria Action and investment to defeat malaria 2016–2030 (AIM). The WHO World malaria report 2020 presents both the estimates of disease burden for 2019 and a review of the updated official estimates of global progress in the fight against malaria in the first 2 decades of the 21st century (2000–2019)" -- introduction.

As WHO's technical department for malaria, the Global Malaria Programme has an important role to play in leading the global response against this disease. Through its direct actions and network, it has the potential to shape the malaria ecosystem and achieve impact at country level. With this in mind, the Global Malaria Programme has developed an operational strategy outlining its priorities for the period 2024‒2030 and the 4 strategic levers to control and eliminate malaria that are decisively within the Programme’s mandate: norms and standards, new tools and innovation, strategic information for impact, and leadership. The strategy describes how the Global Malaria Programme will also transform by collaborating more effectively with other programmes, regional and country offices and partners, guided by lessons learned from WHO’s Thirteenth General Programme of Work (GPW13) and the GPW14 priorities.