Progress in tackling malaria is stalling because of lack of funding, the World Health Organisation says today.
And criminals peddling fake drugs may be aggravating death rates, the organisation has warned.
Its annual malaria report shows that 445,000 people died from the disease last year – a similar number to 2015.
And the number of cases of disease increased to 216 million people infected in 91 countries – five million more than the previous year.
WHO wants to cut malaria mortality by 40% by 2020 – but says spending on disease control must double to achieve this.
Last year some 2.7 billion US dollars was spent on tackling the disease – compared with a target of 6.5 billion dollars.
WHO says there has been a steep reduction in the use of insecticides to protect high risk populations from malaria, especially in Africa. In 2010 some 180 million people had their homes sprayed with the chemicals – but last year the figure fell to 100 million.
WHO director-general Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said: “In recent years, we have made major gains in the fight against malaria.
“We are now at a turning point. Without urgent action, we risk going backwards, and missing the global malaria targets for 2020 and beyond.”
The Wellcome Trust said the report showed some “worrying trends.”
Michael Chew, from the charity, said: “The emergence of resistance against current front-line artemisinin drugs in South East Asia is of particular concern.
“Global efforts to tackle malaria through effective vaccines, insecticides and the best drug combinations require urgent, united action by scientists, drug companies, governments and the WHO.”
• More than a quarter of malaria deaths may now be linked to the use of sub-standard and fake drugs, a second WHO report said yesterday.
The investigation into the problem of fake medicines in poor countries found that they are responsible for between 64,000 and 158,000 malaria deaths.
Up to 169,000 children die annually from pneumonia because of fake antibiotics, the report says.
WHO said that up to 10% of medical products in these countries are either sub-standard or falsified.
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