Burkina Faso records an exceptional 32% decline in malaria cases in 2025
Burkina Faso, a tropical country based in West Africa, has long been struggling with malaria, a life-threatening disease spread to humans by some types of mosquitoes, making it the leading cause of consultations in health centers (43%), more than 60% of hospitalizations, and 30% of reported deaths.
Between 2024 and 2025, the number of malaria cases recorded by health facilities in the country fell by 32%, dropping from 10,8 million cases (in 2024) to 7,3 million cases (in 2025), a decrease of more than 3,4 million cases. Among children under 5, the most vulnerable target, the decline is 38%, representing a decrease of 1,9 million cases. In terms of deaths, nearly half of all deaths were prevented between 2024 and 2025, or 48%, resulting in 1,900 deaths avoided. Among children under 5, a decrease of 893 deaths averted was recorded.
In economic terms, initial estimates show that households have saved, according to MoH officials, more than the equivalent of USD 26.6 million, in direct healthcare costs (consultations, tests, medicines).
Numerous factors contributed to such historic success, according to the minister of Health of Burkina Faso, Dr Robert Lucien Jean-Claude Kargougou. Among others are the improvement in populations’ living conditions; the seasonal chemoprevention, with five rounds of preventive anti-malaria medication targeting four million people in areas of seasonal transmission combined with the destruction of mosquito breeding sites and nests responsible for the bites that cause the disease; the distribution of nearly 15 million latest-generation impregnated mosquito nets. In addition, the extension from August 2025 of malaria vaccination to all 70 health districts also played a critical role. Not forgetting, of course, community mobilization and partners coordination.
Burkina Faso's 2025 data provides evidence that, with a comprehensive strategy, it is possible to bend the curve dramatically against the disease. Now, for the health authorities, the stated ambition is clear: to eliminate malaria in Burkina Faso by 2030.
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Authors: Crépin Hilaire DADJO (
Photo: Women participatiing in a health education session before taking the malaria vaccine for their children in Burkina Faso. Credit: WHO AFRO