Malaria deaths drop to pre-Covid levels, but WHO warns progress still too slow

The WHO says malaria mortality has fallen back to levels seen before the Covid-19 pandemic. AP - James Gathany

Deaths from malaria have returned to pre-Covid levels, but the World Health Organization (WHO) says progress remains too slow in fighting a disease that killed 597,000 people last year.

In a report released on Wednesday, the WHO estimates there were 263 million cases of malaria worldwide in 2023 – 11 million more than the previous year.