Malaria at the turn from the 2nd to the 3rd millenium.

With an annual incidence of 300-500 million clinically manifest cases and a death toll of 1.1-2.7 million, malaria is still one of the most important communicable diseases. Currently about 40% of the world's population live in areas where malaria is endemic, as against 80% in 1950. Although this reflects considerable impact of intensive malaria control, especially between 1950 and 1970, the disease continues to affect large populations in all parts of the tropics and subtropics, and remains most deeply rooted in tropical Africa, the region with 90% of the global malaria incidence. As malaria in tropical Africa is predominantly caused by Plasmodium falciparum, this area also suffers from the highest specific mortality. Drug resistance of P. falciparum is the most formidable obstacle in the fight against the disease since it jeopardizes the most elementary objective of malaria control, namely the elimination of mortality and the reduction of suffering from malaria.