Children being vaccinated against RTS,S malaria in Gisambai, Kenya, March
Anji Chiba/AFP/Getty Images
42 countries or territories are certified malaria-free by the World Health Organization (WHO). This is primarily due to the use of mosquito nets and insecticides and efficient diagnosis and treatment of parasitic conditions.
However, global eradication of malaria is not trivial, as climate change creates new breeding grounds for malaria-carrying mosquitoes, and effective vaccine availability is too costly for many countries.