Elimination

The vision of WHO and the global malaria community is a world free of malaria. This vision will be achieved progressively by countries eliminating malaria from their territories and implementing effective measures to prevent re-establishment of transmission.

Malaria-endemic countries are situated at different points along the road to elimination. The rate of progress will depend on the strength of the national health system, the level of investment in malaria elimination strategies and other factors, including biological determinants; the environment; and the social, demographic, political and economic realities of a particular country. As of January 2025, a total of 45 countries and 1 territory have been certified as malaria-free by WHO.

In June 2022, WHO has issued new recommendations for the final phase of elimination, divided into 3 categories of possible interventions: 

• “mass” strategies applied to the entire population of a delimited geographical area, whether a hamlet, township or district;
• “targeted” strategies applied to people at increased risk of infection compared to the general population; and
• “reactive” strategies implemented in response to individual cases.

WHO's work on malaria elimination is supported by the Technical Advisory Group on Malaria Elimination and Certification (TAG-MEC) which advises whether malaria-free certification should be granted to a country.

The WHO guidelines for malaria bring together all current WHO recommendations on malaria in one easy-to-navigate web-based platform. They are a living resource that will be updated periodically as new evidence becomes available. The Guidelines are currently available in Arabic, English, French and Spanish.