In 2019, there were 229 million cases of malaria in the world, resulting in 410,000 deaths in 87 countries.  Two thirds of these deaths were children under the age of five.  More than 75% of cases occur in Africa, where malaria is responsible for 1 out of 5 deaths in children under five years of age.  That is one child dying from malaria every two minutes, or 720 children every single day.  Malaria devastates lives not only through death, but disability and loss of productivity, negatively impacting economies and compounding the effects of poverty.  The Center for Disease Control estimates, “direct costs (for example, illness, treatments, premature death) of at least $12 billion per year. The cost in lost economic growth is many times that.”

Even more challenging for malaria endemic countries is the impact of the 2020 COVID19 pandemic, which resulted in public health resources normally earmarked for the prevention and eradication of malaria, to be reassigned to COVID19.  In addition, individuals were less likely to seek out health care when infected with malaria for fear of being placed with COVID19 patients.  This may well result in a resurgence of malaria in areas that have made some headway in reducing the incidence and further demonstrates the need for a highly effective malaria vaccine.