TNew data from the World Health Organization reveal that the COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted malaria services, leading to a marked increase in cases and deaths. According to WHO’s latest World malaria report, there were an estimated 241 million malaria cases and 627 000 malaria deaths worldwide i...n 2020. This represents about 14 million more cases in 2020 compared to 2019, and 69 000 more deaths. Approximately two-thirds of these additional deaths (47 000) were linked to disruptions in the provision of malaria prevention, diagnosis and treatment during the pandemic. As in past years, the report provides an up-to-date assessment of the burden of malaria at global, regional and country levels. It tracks investments in malaria programmes and research as well as progress across all intervention areas. This latest report draws on data from 87 countries and territories with ongoing malaria transmission. more

Schools are generally the most popular setting for drug-use- prevention programmes, and are used both by governmental and non-governmental agencies. This may be for many reasons: ease of obtaining funding for school drug-use-prevention programmes, the captive audience, and the popular perception... that drug prevention should start from schools, or the need to show that action is being taken to control a serious social problem. more