World Health Organisation (WHO) Approves First Malaria Treatment for Newborns

Key facts

• The World Health Organisation (WHO) has approved artemether-lumefantrine, the first antimalarial formulation designed specifically for newborns and young infants weighing between two and five kilograms.
• World Malaria Day is observed on April 25.
• According to the WHO world malaria report 2025, there were an estimated 282 million cases and 6,10,000 deaths in 2024.
• In 2024, 47 countries were certified malaria-free and 37 countries reported fewer than 1,000 cases.
• India exited the WHO High Burden to High Impact (HBHI) group in 2024, following an 80.5% decline in malaria cases and a 78.38% decline in malaria deaths between 2015 and 2023.
• India has set targets to achieve zero indigenous malaria cases by 2027 and full elimination by 2030.
• On April 14, the WHO prequalified three new rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs) that target the pf-LDH protein to replace HRP2-based tests that fail to detect certain parasite strains.
• The WHO recommends that countries switch to alternative RDTs when more than 5% of cases are missed due to pf-hrp2 deletions.
• The 2026 World Malaria Day campaign is titled Driven to End Malaria: Now We Can. Now We Must.
• Since 2000, an estimated 2.3 billion malaria infections have been prevented and 14 million lives saved worldwide.
• Twenty-five countries are currently rolling out malaria vaccines, and next-generation mosquito nets account for 84% of all new nets distributed.