International donors pledge $14 bln to fight AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis at Lyon summit

As the coronavirus death toll mounts, global health authorities are reminded that tuberculosis is the deadliest infectious disease in the world. Over a million deaths are reported every year.

Zimbabwe's health system is being stretched even further by malaria outbreaks that have killed at least 131 people. Also, Burkina Faso and Ghana have started to ease coronavirus lockdown measures but the number of cases continue to rise in both countries and there are fears that the changes have come too early. And finally, in Gabon, masks are now compulsory but the majority of poeple still lack equipment and are struggling economically.

In an interview with FRANCE 24, former Liberian president Ellen Johnson Sirleaf discussed the Covid-19 pandemic and its consequences on Africa. Sirleaf, who was president during the deadly Ebola outbreak of 2014, voiced concern about the forthcoming economic crisis. She also called on world leaders not to overlook the fight against malaria.

The WHO is worried that it will fail to reach the goals set in the fight against malaria. Death rates are expected to rise sharply again in 2020 because resources are being diverted to fighting the coronavirus pandemic.

Ahead of World Malaria Day on April 25, the WHO announced plans to stamp out malaria from 25 countries in five years such. The agency had supported 21 countries to bring their malaria caseloads to zero by 2020.

Luz Martínez has contracted malaria three times in Venezuela, the last time when she was six months pregnant with her fourth child in a low-income neighbourhood. She lives in Los Montones, a community in the eastern Anzoategui state, where many local residents fear malaria more than the Covid-19 pandemic, which has overwhelmed hospitals in the South American country.

Singer, Waje, call for enlightenment on malaria

China has become the 40th country to be declared malaria-free. An expert team traveled in May this year to verify China's malaria-free status. It has not had an indigenous case for four years.

After developing a coronavirus vaccine in record time, the German pharmaceutical company aims to start trialing a malaria shot next year using the same breakthrough mRNA technology.

BioNTech wants to continue the success of its COVID-19 vaccine and use mRNA technology to develop shots against malaria. But is production in Africa realistic?

The World Health Organization on Wednesday endorsed the RTS,S/AS01 malaria vaccine, the first against the mosquito-borne disease that kills more than 400,000 people a year, mostly African children.

After testing on more than 800,000 children in Malawi, Ghana and Kenya, the WHO has recommended the use of a vaccine against malaria, a disease that kills nearly 400,000 people every year, mostly children under five. The jab is effective against one of the parasites that transmits the disease and reduces the risk of severe cases by 30 percent, which is enough to save tens of thousands of lives. Associated with other methods, it could drastically reduce the number of sick people each year. Could it even contain the epidemic? Our correspondents report.