World Malaria Day: 25 April 2018
This House of Lords Library Briefing provides information on World Malaria Day, marked on 25 April each year.
World Malaria Day takes place on 25 April each year and has been observed since 2008. It developed from Africa Malaria Day—an event which had been held since 2001 by African governments—during the 60th session of the World Health Assembly (a meeting sponsored by the World Health Organisation (WHO)). Since then, the purpose of the day has been to raise awareness of the global effort to control and ultimately eradicate malaria.
In 2018, World Malaria Day is taking place under the theme ‘Ready to Beat Malaria’. Explaining the theme, the WHO have stated:
This theme underscores the collective energy and commitment of the global malaria community in uniting around the common goal of a world free of malaria. It highlights the remarkable progress achieved in tackling one of humanity’s oldest diseases, while also calling out worrying trends as captured in the 2017 World Malaria Report.