One child dies every 45 seconds
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Unlike infectious diseases, malaria is not transmitted directly from person to person. The parasite needs the anopheles mosquito to spread from one victim to another. (EPA/Stephen Morrison) Keystone -
Apac district, Uganda. A young man cleans his bicycle in stagnant water - a virtual playground for mosquitos. (magnumphotos.com/Archive) magnumphotos.com/Archive -
Shohmbo, Burundi. Doctors Without Borders conducts an information campaign about mosquitos and distributes free mosquito nets. (magnumphotos.com/Archive) magnumphotos.com/Archive -
Kabale, Uganda. Farming artemisia, a plant which provides one of the most effective treatments against malaria. (magnumphotos.com/Archive) magnumphotos.com/Archive -
Ashian, 20, returns home with her baby Jen Frank Atiliop, eight months, who is infected with malaria. Unlike others, this family of Uganda's Apac district did not have a mosquito net. (magnumphotos.com/Archive) magnumphotos.com/Archive -
Apac Hospital, Uganda. A nurse checks on a child suffering from malaria. (magnumphotos.com/Archive) magnumphotos.com/Archive -
Arusha, Tanzania. Manufacturing the mosquito nets vital to saving lives. (magnumphotos.com/Archive) magnumphotos.com/Archive -
Jonice and her son Dennis, seven, under the mosquito net in their house in Ruhiira, Uganda. (magnumphotos.com/Archive) magnumphotos.com/Archive -
Spraying insecticide in Mumbai. In this Indian city, like elsewhere, mosquitos can breed in the smallest puddle of water. (Keystone) Keystone -
Apac Hospital, Uganda. A nurse checks a child's drip. (magnumphotos.com/Archive) magnumphotos.com/Archive -
Apac Hospital, Uganda. A nurse looks for a vein in a young child's head. (magnumphotos.com/Archive) magnumphotos.com/Archive -
Wheelchairs gathering dust in the hospital at Ourossogui, Senegal. In this very poor region, as in many others, malaria is a major health problem. (EPA/Nic Bothma) Keystone
For millions of parents in the sub-Sahara, malaria is the number one scourge threatening their children. Treatment and prevention accounts for 40 per cent of Africa's total public health spending.
This content was published on July 13, 2012 - 11:00
However since the beginning of the 21st century, the disease has been in decline. In 2000, malaria killed an estimated one million people - ten years later, that number was down to 655,000. But while in 11 African countries the decline is more than 50 per cent, specialists insist that progress remains fragile.
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