Most Active Stories Shots - Health Blog Thu February 2, 2012
Researchers Say Malaria Deaths Are Twice The Official Count If
the new numbers are right, it means there's little chance that
malaria deaths can be cut to near-zero by 2015, just three years
from now. That's the official goal set last year by the World
Health Organization. "We estimate that if decreases from the
peak year of 2004 continue, malaria mortality will decrease to
less than 100,000 deaths only after 2020," write Christopher
Murray and his colleagues in this week's edition of The Lancet.
The group does ratify what a Lancet editorial calls the
"phenomenally successful" campaign that has reduced malaria
deaths in Africa by 30 percent since the 2004 peak. "It's rare
in global health that we see such a clear quantitative story,"
Murray told Shots. "You can see the money flowing in, you can
see the expansion of interventions, and you can see the
outcome." He says the success has been driven by the
distribution of insecticide-treated bed nets (14