Mali

MSF is providing treatment to those infected, and has launched a vaccination campaign for approximately 400,000 children between six months and 15 years of age.

In a new report launched today, MSF said many more lives can be saved if newer effective strategies to tackle malaria are more widely implemented. The report, titled "Full Prescription; better malaria treatment for more people, MSF’s experience,"describes the organization’s work in Sierra Leone, Chad and Mali, and shows that unnecessary deaths can be avoided with simple, affordable treatment and diagnostic tools available today.

The south of Mali, a marshy region crossed from west to east by the river Niger, is a breeding ground for the mosquitoes that carry malaria. The disease is omnipresent here, and children, the group most vulnerable to the parasite, are its main victims. Every child under five suffers from malaria at least once a year, and some catch it a second or even a third time over the course of a year. The medical needs associated with malaria are huge, but the health system does not respond proportionately.