[Shadows and lights of malaria prevention in Africa]

According to the statistics provided by the World Health Organization in 1984, some 6.5 million cases of malaria were notified in 1982, an improvement in comparison with 1981, when the number of cases was 7.8 million. But these figures are incomplete and statistical data from sub-Saharan Africa are not included in the total. Out of the population of the world (in 1982) of 4,600 million about 2,100 million live in areas where malaria had never occurred or where indigenous malaria had disappeared. Some 2,100 million people live in areas where specific measures have greatly decreased the incidence of malaria. However, about 370 millions live in areas where no antimalaria activities took place, with the exception of some urban centres. On the African continent in countries north of the Sahara, out of the population of 100 million about 75 million are in areas, which were malarious 20 years ago, but today the amount of disease has been drastically reduced. The number of cases notified was 561 in 1982, against 482 in 1981, and most of them had been imported from tropical Africa. In Africa south of the Sahara out of 400 millions at least 350 million people live in malarious areas, where the prevalence of the disease has not changed for many years. The number of clinical cases of malaria has been estimated as between 70 and 100 million, with a mortality of about 1 million among small children.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)