About 3.3 billion people – approximately half of the world’s population, are at risk of malaria. In 2010, there were about 219 million malaria cases and an estimated 660,000 malaria deaths.
People living in the poorest countries are the most vulnerable to malaria. In 2010, 90% of all malaria deaths occurred in the WHO African Region, mostly among children under five years of age.
In 2010 the World Health Organisation reported 1.6 million cases of dengue fever in Latin America alone, of which 49,000 were severe, a leading cause of death among children in the region.