There has been a dramatic fall in the number of people dying from malaria in recent years, the World Health Organization (WHO) has said.

According to its World Malaria Report 2014, between 2000 and 2013, the number of deaths worldwide fell by 47%. Meanwhile in the WHO African Region, where around 90% of all malaria deaths occur, the death rate fell by 54%.

Malaria is a tropical disease spread by mosquitoes. Symptoms can include fever, shivering and aches/pains. Symptoms can develop a few days after being bitten by an infected mosquito or up to a year later. The disease can lead to severe illness and death.

Last year, 71 cases of malaria were notified in Ireland, including 12 cases in children. Meanwhile worldwide, the disease was responsible for around 584,000 deaths, the majority of whom were children under the age of five.

"We can win the fight against malaria. We have the right tools and our defences are working. But we still need to get those tools to a lot more people if we are to make these gains sustainable," commented WHO director general, Dr Margaret Chan.

The report noted that in sub-Saharan Africa, fewer people are infected with malaria every year despite a 43% increase in the population there. In 2000, 173 million people were infected with the disease in this region. In 2013, this had fallen to 128 million.

The WHO said that globally, more and more countries are ‘moving towards malaria elimination'. Last year, two countries - Azerbaijan and Sri Lanka - reported no indigenous cases of the disease for the first time. Another 11 countries succeeded in maintaining no cases, including Egypt, Argentina, Iraq, Morocco and Georgia.

The report stated that one of the reasons for this improvement is better access to diagnostic testing and treatment, however major challenges remain as millions of people still miss out on these.

"The next few years are going to be critical to show that we can maintain momentum and build on the gains," said the director of the WHO's Global Malaria Programme, Dr Pedro Alonso.

However, he added that there is ‘a strong pipeline of innovative new products that will soon transform malaria control and elimination'.

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