World Malaria Report 2025: Global Trends, Challenges, and India’s Progress

The World Malaria Report 2025 highlights global malaria trends, disease burden, funding gaps, and progress in elimination efforts, with a special focus on high-burden countries and India’s achievements.

Table of Contents

Context

Countries in the Asia-Pacific region have committed to eliminating malaria by 2030.

Key Takeaways from the World Malaria Report 2025

Global Progress Has Stalled: After years of decline, the global reduction in malaria cases and deaths has slowed, indicating that current control strategies are insufficient to stay on track for 2030 elimination targets.
High Burden Concentrated in Few Countries: A small group of countries—mainly in Sub-Saharan Africa—continue to account for the majority of global malaria cases and deaths, highlighting persistent regional inequality in disease burden.
Climate Change as a Risk Multiplier: Rising temperatures, changing rainfall patterns, floods, and droughts are expanding mosquito habitats and increasing transmission risk, especially in fragile and conflict-affected settings.
Drug and Insecticide Resistance Threaten Gains: Growing resistance to antimalarial drugs and insecticides is undermining the effectiveness of frontline treatments and vector control tools such as insecticide-treated nets.
Asia-Pacific Shows Mixed Progress: Nations like China and Sri Lanka have achieved malaria-free status, and others such as Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Timor-Leste, Malaysia, and Bhutan are close to elimination

Remaining Challenges

Despite gains, the region still faces persistent transmission in remote and high-burden areas, especially among mobile and migrant populations.
Drug and insecticide resistance, as well as socio-economic and geographic barriers, threaten progress and make the “last mile” harder to reach.
Funding gaps and fluctuating international aid also pose risks to sustained elimination efforts and long-term surveillance.

Asia Pacific Leaders Malaria Alliance (APLMA)

It is a high-level regional platform established to support the goal of eliminating malaria from the Asia–Pacific region by 2030, in alignment with the WHO Global Technical Strategy for Malaria.
India is a key stakeholder in APLMA due to its population size and malaria burden in certain pockets.
India’s National Framework for Malaria Elimination (NFME 2016–2030) aligns with APLMA’s regional goals, particularly in border areas and the North-East.