Also at high risk are pregnant women, non-immune travellers, refugees, displaced persons, and workers entering endemic areas. If promptly diagnosed and adequately treated, however, malaria is curable. Ninety per cent of the global malaria cases occur in sub-Saharan Africa. Two-thirds of the remaining cases occur in Asia, Latin America, the Middle East, and Eastern Europe. Increasing numbers of imported cases are occurring in Europe and North America.
Malaria thrives in warm, humid climates, particularly where health care systems are weak.
Malaria victims occupy as many as one out of ten hospital beds worldwide. The disease exacts an enormous toll, not only in lives, but in medical costs, days of labour lost, and economic output, and it undermines the growth and development of millions of children. Past Progress Reversed The number of malaria cases in North America, southern Europe, the former Soviet Union, and in some areas of Asia and South America decreased from 350 million in 1955 to 10 million in 1969 mostly attributed to spraying DDT inside homes and on mosquito breeding sites. But the DDT insecticide is now legally banned in many countries because of its harmful effects on the environment. The problem was complicated by malaria strains that were resistant to chloroquine, the most inexpensive and widely used antimalarial drug and some strains of malaria have also developed a resistance to other antimalarial drugs.