On World Malaria Day, the World Health Organization (WHO) is calling for revitalized efforts at all levels, from global policy to community action, to accelerate progress towards malaria elimination. In the late 1990s, world leaders laid the foundation for remarkable progress in global malaria control, including preventing more than 2 billion cases of malaria and nearly 13 million deaths since 2000. To date, WHO has certified 45 countries and 1 territory as malaria-free, and many countries with a low burden of malaria continue to move steadily towards the goal of elimination. Of the remaining 83 malaria-endemic countries, 25 reported fewer than 10 cases of the disease in 2023. However, as history has shown, these gains are fragile. “The history of malaria teaches us a harsh lesson: when we divert our attention, the disease resurges, taking its greatest toll on the most vulnerable,” said WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. “But the same history also shows us what’s possible: with strong political commitment, sustained investment, multisectoral action and community engagement, malaria can be defeated.” Investments in new interventions drive progress Years of investment in the development and deployment of new malaria vaccines and next-generation tools to prevent and control malaria are paying off. On World Malaria Day, Mali will join 19 other African countries in introducing malaria vaccines—a vital step towards protecting young children from one of the continent’s most deadly diseases. The large-scale rollout of malaria vaccines in Africa is expected to save tens of thousands of young lives every year. Meanwhile, the expanded use of a new generation of insecticide-treated nets is poised to lower the disease burden. According to the latest World malaria report, these new nets—which have greater impact against malaria than the standard pyrethroid-only nets—accounted for nearly 80% of all nets delivered in sub-Saharan Africa in 2023, up from 59% the previous year. Progress against malaria under threat Despite significant gains, malaria remains a major public health challenge, with nearly 600 000 lives lost to the disease in 2023 alone. The African Region is hardest hit, shouldering an estimated 95% of the malaria burden each year. In many areas, progress has been hampered by fragile health systems and rising threats such as drug and insecticide resistance. Many at-risk groups continue to miss out on the services they need to prevent, detect and treat malaria. Climate change, conflict, poverty and population displacement are compounding these challenges. WHO recently warned that the 2025 funding cuts could further derail progress in many endemic countries, putting millions of additional lives at risk. Of the 64 WHO Country Offices in malaria-endemic countries that took part in a recent WHO stock take assessment, more than half reported moderate or severe disruptions to malaria services. Renewed call to protect hard-won gains World Malaria Day 2025 - under the theme, “Malaria ends with us: reinvest, reimagine, reignite” - is calling for stepped up political and financial commitment to protect the hard-won gains against malaria. To reinvest, WHO joins partners and civil society in calling on malaria-endemic countries to boost domestic spending, particularly in primary health care, so that all at-risk populations can access the services they need to prevent, detect and treat malaria. The successful replenishments of the Global Fund and Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, are also critical to financing malaria programmes and interventions, and accelerating progress towards the targets set in the WHO Global technical strategy for malaria 2016-2030. Addressing current challenges in global malaria control will also require a reimagined response through innovative tools, strategies and partnerships. New and more effective antimalarial drugs are needed, as all well as advancements in service delivery, diagnostics, insecticides, vaccines and vector control methods. More countries are making malaria control and elimination a national priority, including through the Yaoundé Declaration, signed in March 2024 by African Ministers of Health from 11 high burden countries. “Ministers committed to strengthening their health systems, stepping up domestic resources, enhancing multisectoral action and ensuring a robust accountability mechanism,” notes Dr Daniel Ngamije, Director of the WHO Global Malaria Programme. “This is the kind of leadership the world must rally behind.” Reigniting commitment at all levels – from communities and frontline health workers to governments, researchers, the private sector innovators and donors – will be critical to curbing and, ultimately, ending malaria. Notes to the editor: For more information on the WHO World Malaria Day campaign, visit: https://www.who.int/campaigns/world-malaria-day/2025  

Immunization efforts are under growing threat as misinformation, population growth, humanitarian crises and funding cuts jeopardize progress and leave millions of children, adolescents and adults at risk, warn WHO, UNICEF, and Gavi during World Immunization Week, 24–30 April. Outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases such as measles, meningitis and yellow fever are rising globally, and diseases like diphtheria, that have long been held at bay or virtually disappeared in many countries, are at risk of re-emerging. In response, the agencies are calling for urgent and sustained political attention and investment to strengthen immunization programmes and protect significant progress achieved in reducing child mortality over the past 50 years. “Vaccines have saved more than 150 million lives over the past five decades,” said WHO Director-General, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. “Funding cuts to global health have put these hard-won gains in jeopardy. Outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases are increasing around the world, putting lives at risk and exposing countries to increased costs in treating diseases and responding to outbreaks. Countries with limited resources must invest in the highest-impact interventions – and that includes vaccines.” Rising outbreaks and strained health systems Measles is making an especially dangerous comeback. The number of cases has been increasing year on year since 2021, tracking the reductions in immunization coverage that occurred during and since the COVID-19 pandemic in many communities. Measles cases reached an estimated 10.3 million in 2023, a 20% increase compared to 2022. The agencies warn that this upward trend likely continued into 2024 and 2025, as outbreaks have intensified around the world. In the past 12 months, 138 countries have reported measles cases, with 61 experiencing large or disruptive outbreaks – the highest number observed in any 12-month period since 2019. Meningitis cases in Africa also rose sharply in 2024, and the upward trend has continued into 2025. In the first three months of this year alone, more than 5500 suspected cases and nearly 300 deaths were reported in 22 countries. This follows approximately 26 000 cases and almost 1400 deaths across 24 countries last year. Yellow fever cases in the African region are also climbing, with 124 confirmed cases reported in 12 countries in 2024. This comes after dramatic declines in the disease over the past decade, thanks to global vaccine stockpiles and use of yellow fever vaccine in routine immunization programmes. In the WHO Region of the Americas, yellow fever outbreaks have been confirmed since the beginning of this year, with a total of 131 cases in 4 countries. These outbreaks come amidst global funding cuts. A recent WHO rapid stock take with 108 country offices of WHO – mostly in low- and lower-middle-income countries – shows that nearly half of those countries are facing moderate to severe disruptions to vaccination campaigns, routine immunization and access to supplies due to reduced donor funding. Disease surveillance, including for vaccine-preventable diseases, is also impacted in more than half of the countries surveyed. At the same time, the number of children missing routine vaccinations has been increasing in recent years, even as countries make efforts to catch up children missed during the pandemic. In 2023, an estimated 14.5 million children missed all of their routine vaccine doses – up from 13.9 million in 2022 and 12.9 million in 2019. Over half of these children live in countries facing conflict, fragility, or instability, where access to basic health services is often disrupted. “The global funding crisis is severely limiting our ability to vaccinate over 15 million vulnerable children in fragile and conflict-affected countries against measles,” said UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell. “Immunization services, disease surveillance, and the outbreak response in nearly 50 countries are already being disrupted – with setbacks at a similar level to what we saw during COVID-19. We cannot afford to lose ground in the fight against preventable diseases.” Continued investment in the ‘Big Catch-Up initiative’, launched in 2023 to reach children who missed vaccines during the COVID-19 pandemic, and other routine immunization programmes will be critical. How immunization addresses these challenges Joint efforts by WHO, UNICEF, Gavi and partners have helped countries expand access to vaccines and strengthen immunization systems through primary health care, even in the face of mounting challenges. Every year, vaccines save nearly 4.2 million lives against 14 diseases – with nearly half of these lives saved in the African Region. Vaccination campaigns have led to the elimination of meningitis A in Africa’s meningitis belt, while a new vaccine that protects against five strains of meningitis holds promise for broader protection, with efforts underway to expand its use for outbreak response and prevention. Progress has also been made in reducing yellow fever cases and deaths through increasing routine immunization coverage and emergency vaccine stockpiles, but recent outbreaks in Africa and in the Region of the Americas highlight the risks in areas with no reported cases in the past, low routine vaccination coverage and gaps in preventive campaigns. In addition, the past two years have seen substantial progress in other areas of immunization. In the African Region, which has the highest cervical cancer burden in the world, HPV vaccine coverage nearly doubled between 2020 and 2023 from 21% to 40%, reflecting a concerted global effort towards eliminating cervical cancer. The progress in immunization also includes increases in global coverage of pneumococcal conjugate vaccines, particularly in the South-East Asia Region, alongside introductions in Chad and Somalia, countries with high disease burden. Another milestone is the sub-national introduction of malaria vaccines in nearly 20 African countries, laying the foundation to save half a million additional lives by 2035 as more countries adopt the vaccines and scale-up accelerates as part of the tools to fight malaria. Call to action UNICEF, WHO, and Gavi urgently call for parents, the public, and politicians to strengthen support for immunization. The agencies emphasize the need for sustained investment in vaccines and immunization programmes and urge countries to honour their commitments to the Immunization Agenda 2030 (IA2030). As part of integrated primary health-care systems, vaccination can protect against diseases and connect families to other essential care, such as antenatal care, nutrition or malaria screening. Immunization is a ‘best buy’ in health with a return on investment of $54 for every dollar invested and provides a foundation for future prosperity and health security. “Increasing outbreaks of highly infectious diseases are a concern for the whole world. The good news is we can fight back, and Gavi’s next strategic period has a clear plan to bolster our defences by expanding investments in global vaccine stockpiles and rolling out targeted preventive vaccination in countries most impacted by meningitis, yellow fever and measles,” said Dr Sania Nishtar, CEO of Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance. “These vital activities, however, will be at risk if Gavi is not fully funded for the next five years and we call on our donors to support our mission in the interests of keeping everyone, everywhere, safer from preventable diseases.” Gavi’s upcoming high-level pledging summit taking place on 25 June 2025 seeks to raise at least US$ 9 billion from our donors to fund our ambitious strategy to protect 500 million children, saving at least 8 million lives from 2026–2030. #####   Notes to editor: Download multimedia content here: https://weshare.unicef.org/Package/2AM4086M4S1G About WHO Dedicated to the health and well-being of all people and guided by science, the World Health Organization leads and champions global efforts to give everyone, everywhere, an equal chance at a safe and healthy life. We are the UN agency for health. We connect nations, partners and people on the front lines in 150+ locations – leading the world’s response to health emergencies, preventing disease, addressing the root causes of health issues and expanding access to medicines and health care. Our mission is to promote health, keep the world safe and serve the vulnerable. www.who.int About UNICEF UNICEF works in some of the world's toughest places, to reach the world's most disadvantaged children. Across more than 190 countries and territories, we work for every child, everywhere, to build a better world for everyone. For more information about UNICEF and its work, visit: www.unicef.org. About Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance is a public-private partnership that helps vaccinate more than half the world’s children against some of the world’s deadliest diseases. Since its inception in 2000, Gavi has helped to immunize a whole generation – over 1.1 billion children – and prevented more than 18.8 million future deaths, helping to halve child mortality in 78 lower income countries. Gavi also plays a key role in improving global health security by supporting health systems as well as funding global stockpiles for Ebola, cholera, meningococcal and yellow fever vaccines. After two decades of progress, Gavi is now focused on protecting the next generation, above all the zero-dose children who have not received even a single vaccine shot. The Vaccine Alliance employs innovative finance and the latest technology – from drones to biometrics – to save lives, prevent outbreaks before they can spread and help countries on the road to self-sufficiency. Learn more at www.gavi.org.