This is the wiki note of the day on malaria. The following five African countries register the highest number of cases of malaria every year and together they make for more than half of malaria deaths in the world: The Democratic Republic of Congo, Uganda, Tanzania, Sudan and Nigeria. In the last decade, the following eight African countries halved malaria infection rates: Eritrea, Rwanda, Botswana, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland, Cape Verde and Sao Tome. This year, Zambia also joined the lucky club of eight countries that have successfully managed their malaria problem.  The nine countries have registered this astounding success by combining the following three methods:

1. widespread distribution of malaria nets and awareness campaigns on the benefits of using these nets.

2. constant spraying of incecticides, primarily the use of DDT.

3. cheaper, faster and more effective diagnosis and treatment.

And now the real FYI note: the crucial reason why these countries were able to decrease the number of new malaria infections was that both national and international organizations worked hard on both awareness campaigns and supplementing   the number of doctors working in the field.  The information presented in this post comes from an older Reuters article citing WHO representatives.