WHO: global impact of malaria

Malaria kills 1 million people every year, most of them in &to=http:// english.pravda.ru/world/20/91/367/12116_Africa.html ' target=_blank>Africa, according to a United Nations report released Tuesday, which highlights challenges as well as progress in reducing the burden of the disease. The 2005 World Malaria Report, released by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), finds that some 350 to 500 million people worldwide became ill with malaria in 2003, though prevention and treatment services are reaching more people.

Halting and reversing the incidence of malaria by 2015 is a target of the Millennium Development Goals of the UN. The more immediate goal of Roll Back Malaria, a UN program, is to halve the burden of &to=http:// english.pravda.ru/society/2002/01/12/25390.html' target=_blank>malaria worldwide by 2010.

A major obstacle to achieving that goal, the report explains, is a lack of funds. The report estimates that 3.2 billion US dollars per year is needed to effectively combat malaria in the 82countries with the highest disease burden, reports Xinhuanet.