Efforts to reduce the incidence of malaria are increasing significantly, says a major report published on 18 September by the World Health Organization. Parts of Africa that have made aggressive use of a combination of preventive measures over the past few years have seen dramatic falls in the number of cases, WHO says.

The World Malaria Report 2008 found an estimated 247 million cases of malaria and 881 000 deaths from the disease, mostly among children in Africa, meaning that it remains one of the world’s leading causes of death. However, several countries had achieved a sharp fall in the number of people affected by malaria after increasing control measures.

Eritrea, Rwanda, São Tomé and Príncipe, and Zanzibar (in Tanzania) each reported reductions of 50% or more in the number of malaria cases and deaths between 2000 and 2006 or 2007.

These areas had achieved high coverage of …