[Deaths From Malaria] Turned Out To Be Highly Underestimated

2023 Author: Abraham Higgins | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-05-30 04:59

[Deaths from malaria] turned out to be highly underestimated

The death rate from malaria in the world can be twice as high as according to the WHO. This is evidenced by the results of computer simulations, which are based on mortality rates over the past 30 years. Deaths from malaria peaked in 2004, due to an increase in the population at risk. Soon, large-scale anti-malaria measures were taken in Africa.

The spread of malaria in the world, illustration from smeds.org /

The British medical journal The Lancet published the results of a study that suggests that in 2010, 1.24 million people died from malaria worldwide, according to the BBC.

These data were obtained by American scientists from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington in Seattle under the direction of Christophor Murray.

They carried out computer simulations that were based on the use of historical information on malaria deaths from 1980 to 2010.

The study was supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the death rate from malaria in 2010 was two times lower and amounted to 655 thousand people.

However, both new research and WHO data indicate a current drop in mortality.

Another conclusion of the study of American scientists: the death rate from malaria in the world grew from 995 thousand in 1980 to a peak of 1.82 million in 2004. After that, it began to decline and in 2010 reached 1.24 million people.

The increase in mortality before 2004 is associated with an increase in population in countries with a high risk of contracting malaria, primarily in Africa. Experts explain the subsequent decrease in mortality by "promptly taken large-scale measures to control the spread of malaria", which were supported by international sponsors.

The highest deaths from malaria are observed in children under five years of age and in Africa. At the same time, according to a new study, the number of deaths among older children and adults is higher than previously thought by 433,000.

“We know from textbooks that people with childhood malaria develop immunity and rarely die of malaria in adulthood,” notes Christopher Murray. “However, what we found in hospital records and official death records, medical examinations and other sources suggests that this is not the case,” adds the scientist.

According to the authors of the study, the eradication of malaria in the near future is impossible.

"We have calculated that if the recession, which began in 2004, continues at the same pace, then the death rate from malaria will fall below 100 thousand per year only after 2020," - quoted the text of the BBC article.