The World Health Organization (WHO) has significantly reduced its previous estimate of the number of people who contract malaria annually. This change is attributed to the impact of rapid urbanization in Asia, which has led to the destruction of forest habitats where disease-spreading mosquitoes live. In 2006, the WHO reported that 247 million people worldwide were infected with malaria, a significant decrease from their previous estimate of 350 million to 500 million cases per year. The global death toll from malaria has also been revised down by approximately 10 percent compared to the WHO's previous report issued three years ago, mainly due to improvements in calculation methods. The World Health Organization stated that it is uncertain if there was a decrease in cases and deaths between 2004 and 2006. A report revealed that 881,000 people died from malaria in 2006, which is lower than previous estimates of over 1 million annual deaths from the disease. Malaria, which predominantly affects infants, children, and pregnant women, has received significant amounts of public funding from organizations like the WHO, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and the Clinton Foundation. The Roll Back Malaria Partnership of the WHO is advocating for an increase in funding for malaria to $3.4 billion per year, up from $1.2 billion, to enhance access to artemisinin-based drugs and insecticide-treated bed nets for prevention. Estimating the global burden of disease is a challenging task and often requires major revisions by public health experts. Last year, the WHO revised its estimate of people infected with the AIDS virus to 33 million from 40 million due to new data from India. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also increased its estimate of annual HIV cases by 40 percent using more precise reporting methods. Margaret Chan, Director-General of the WHO, stated that less than one-third of the organization's member states have reliable disease monitoring systems, highlighting the need for accurate information on diseases like malaria. She announced that the malaria report will now be released yearly to provide decision-makers with up-to-date information on the disease, especially with the recent increase in funding and efforts to reduce the malaria burden. Novartis AG's medication Coartem is utilized in the treatment of malaria, while other pharmaceutical companies like Austria's Intercell are also in the process of developing malaria vaccines. However, it is anticipated that these vaccines will not be available on the market for several years. Malaria is most commonly found in Africa, where the World Health Organization (WHO) estimates the number of cases using climate data related to mosquito breeding patterns, as well as sample surveys. In 2006, Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Uganda, Ethiopia, and Tanzania had the highest number of malaria-related deaths, according to the WHO. Outside of Africa, countries heavily affected by malaria included India, Myanmar, Bangladesh, and Indonesia.