Historic challenge

Some medical experts believe that malaria has caused more deaths over time than all of the wars and other diseases together. It is said that malaria paralyzed the armies of Attila the Hun and Genghis Khan.

In the recent past, malaria was a huge problem in the southeast of the United States where the malaria mosquito infected millions of people in the 1930s. All kinds of organizations mobilized to fight malaria. Disney made cartoons with the seven dwarfs who instructed Americans on how to fight the disease. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, now the organization that promotes health and safety in America, was established to eradicate the disease. A joint effort at the national level enabled malaria to be declared eradicated in America in 1951. Malaria also occurred in the Netherlands. The last indigenous form of malaria was identified in 1961.

Malaria has been successfully eradicated in many parts of the world. The Caribbean, Vietnam and the Panama Canal successfully got malaria under control as did the island of Zanzibar off the coast of Tanzania. Malaria is, however, still wreaking havoc in countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, parts of Asia, and South America.