http://www7.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0707/feature1/
"We live on a malarious planet. It may not seem that way from the vantage point of a wealthy country, where malaria is sometimes thought of, if it is thought of at all, as a problem that has mostly been solved, like smallpox or polio. In truth, malaria now affects more people than ever before. It's endemic to 106 nations, threatening half the world's population. In recent years, the parasite has grown so entrenched and has developed resistance to so many drugs that the most potent strains can scarcely be controlled. This year malaria will strike up to a half billion people. At least a million will die, most of them under age five, the vast majority living in Africa. That's more than twice the annual toll a generation ago. The outcry over this epidemic, until recently, has been muted. Malaria is a plague of the poor, easy to overlook. The most unfortunate fact about malaria, some researchers believe, is that prosperous nations got rid of it. In the meantime, several distinctly unprosperous regions have reached the brink of total malarial collapse, virtually ruled by swarms of buzzing, flying syringes.... To witness the full force of malaria's stranglehold on Zambia, it's essential to leave the capital city, Lusaka. Drive north, across the verdant plains, past the banana plantations and the copper mines— copper is Zambia's primary export—and into the forested region tucked between the borders of Angola and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. This is the North-Western Province. It is almost entirely rural; many villages can be reached only by thin footpaths worn into the beet-red soil. A nationwide health survey in 2005 concluded that for every thousand children under age five living in the North- Western Province, there were 1,353 cases of malaria. An annual rate of more than 100 percent seems impossible, a typo. It is not. What it means is that many children are infected with malaria more than once a year.
