In the past ten years, those of us in the global malaria control community have changed the way we fight the disease, using new tools and strategies that have helped save the lives of more than 1.1 million children in Africa alone.

The latest report in the Roll Back Malaria (RBM) Progress & Impact Series, A Decade of Partnership and Results, shows just how far we’ve come since 2000, when malaria control was just emerging as a global priority. Strong partnerships and increased investments are now turning the tide against malaria, which killed people unchecked just a decade ago.

For those working in malaria control every day, it can be hard to grasp the scope and magnitude of the advances occurring because of these efforts. It is sometimes too easy to feel that there is not much new to talk about each day.

But reflecting on the past decade of malaria control work reminds us that, in fact, everything is new. When we began the new millennium, United Nations member states pledged to fight the disease and committed to participate in the “UN Decade to Roll Back Malaria.” Since then, we have met and, in many instances, surpassed the goals we set out to achieve not very long ago. 

The RBM Partnership has evolved to include hundreds of forward-looking partners who are leading the way with improved strategies and policies, strong national ownership, and new interventions and delivery systems. And thanks to dramatically increased funding, countries have been able to put their plans into action, delivering important tools such as insecticide-treated mosquito nets, diagnostic technologies, and effective medicines to those who need them most.

As a result, global malaria deaths have dropped an estimated 38 percent since 2001, with some African countries cutting the number of malaria deaths by 50 percent or more.

While the malaria burden is heaviest in Africa, malarious countries outside of Africa have also shown progress in every region of the world. Three of these countries have eliminated malaria altogether, and 26 are in various stages of eliminating the disease.

The new report goes beyond demonstrating that malaria control is working—rather, it shows that malaria control is one of the best public health investments of our lifetime. Together, we have had the remarkable opportunity to see our work change the world in a relatively short period of time.

However, the successes we’ve made to date are fragile. The next ten years are perhaps even more important. If we direct our attention and funding away from malaria, our current gains will be lost, providing the opening for malaria to reclaim its role as one of the world’s most ruthless killers.

The choice, then, is simple: We must continue to build on our successes to ensure no more people die needlessly from this preventable and curable disease. In the next decade, we have the opportunity—and the challenge—to see how close we can get to a world free of malaria.