London, Great Britain, United Kingdom (AHN) – An article in The Lancet journal by a team of international researchers examines efforts to eradicate malaria worldwide over the past 150 years and outlines some of the remaining financial, technical and operational challenges that malaria-eliminating countries still face.

If not treated, malaria can quickly become a life-threatening disease.

The researchers found that some areas, including sub-Saharan Africa, might not have a chance of wiping out the disease, but Latin America might succeed. Researchers say that 32 of the 99 countries that have malaria are making progress toward eradicating it. In addition, the deadliest form of the disease, caused by the Plasmodium parasite, could be eliminated if transmission of the disease could be reduced by 90 percent of the 2007 rates of infection within 10 to 15 years.

Countries with better developed economies have the best chance of eliminating the disease, the article asserts. Those countries include the Dominican Republic, Saudi Arabia, Brazil and Iran, as well as Honduras, Djibouti and Botswana. However, poor countries in Asia and sub-Saharan Africa that have weak health care systems to begin with have a poorer chance of eradicating malaria, researchers found.

In 2008, an estimated 190 to 311 million people contracted malaria around the world and 708,000 to 1,003,000 people died. Most of the deaths were in sub-Saharan Africa among young children, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

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