The global distribution of clinical episodes of Plasmodium falciparum malaria - Nature

A new ‘malaria map’ suggests that the disease is far more common than was thought. There is still no reliable estimate of the global distribution of the public health burden posed by malaria, making it impossible to allocate resources for malaria control on the basis of objective evidence. Snow et al. set out to improve the situation by developing a map of the global distribution of clinical episodes of Plasmodium falciparum malaria incorporating epidemiological, geographic and demographic data. The bottom line is a total of around 500 million cases in 2002, which is 50% higher than the WHO figure. For areas outside Africa the new estimate is twice the WHO figure, reflecting lax reporting procedures in some countries.