25 April 2026, Islamabad – On World Malaria Day the World Health Organization urged partners to intensify efforts to prevent a resurgence of malaria Pakistan is still battling after the 2022 climate-driven floods. Although incidence fell by 10% in 2025 compared with 2024, the country recorded about 1.8 million confirmed cases last year and remains far from recovering from the surge that saw infections rise from 399,097 in 2021 to a peak of 2.7 million in 2023.
WHO highlighted that progress is fragile as climate change, a global funding gap of US$ 5.4 billion and recent cuts in health aid have disrupted health systems, surveillance and prevention campaigns. The agency and its partners launched a global campaign under the theme Driven to End Malaria: Now We Can. Now We Must to mobilise resources and protect lives now while funding a malaria-free future.
In April 2026 WHO experts visited health facilities in Sindh as part of a country-led malaria programme review, supporting provincial and federal teams to gather evidence and lessons learned. The review focused on strengthening prevention, surveillance, case management, evidence-based vector control, data systems and outbreak preparedness. Photo credit WHO Pakistan.
Last year Pakistan screened about 16.9 million suspected cases and provided free treatment to most of the nearly 1.8 million confirmed patients through collaboration with WHO, the private sector, civil society and with funding support from the Global Fund. Approximately 12 million mosquito nets were distributed between 2023 and 2025, and community-based case management has been adopted to extend services to hard-to-reach communities.
Malaria transmission in Pakistan remains concentrated in Balochistan, rural Sindh and several districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, underscoring the need for sustained funding and local action to avoid reversing gains. WHO emphasised that with the current tools and renewed investment it is possible to aim for elimination and to protect future generations from this disease.
Globally WHO notes that medical advances and international collaboration have averted an estimated 2.3 billion cases and 14 million deaths since 2000, and that 47 countries have been certified malaria-free, including recent additions in 2024 and 2025. New vaccines, treatments and emerging technologies such as genetic approaches and long-acting injectables make eradication increasingly attainable, but sustained support is essential to translate those gains into a malaria-free Pakistan and region.
