Ethiopia reports 900K malaria cases in the first six weeks of 2025
In a follow-up on the malaria outbreak in Ethiopia, a total of 909,146 malaria cases and 34 deaths were reported in the country through February 8. This includes 135,032 cases and three new deaths were recorded in week six.
Most cases reported in Epi-week 6 were from five regions: Oromia (40%), Amhara (24.7%), South Ethiopia (9%), SWEPRS (7.5%), and B/Gumuz (4.2%), or 85 percent of the total.
During this period, malaria cases were reported in 1,173 Woredas (districts) across the country.
Officials say of the cases reported in the last week of this reporting period, 82.9% were laboratory-confirmed, with Plasmodium vivax accounting for 50.9% of infections.
Ethiopia health officials reported more 10 million malaria cases in all of 2024.
According to the World Health Organization, globally in 2023, there were an estimated 263 million malaria cases and 597,000 malaria deaths in 83 countries.
The WHO African Region carries a disproportionately high share of the global malaria burden.
In 2023, the WHO African Region was home to 94% of malaria cases (246 million) and 95% (569,000) of malaria deaths.
Children under 5 accounted for about 76% of all malaria deaths in the Region.