Its on the map now
2.4 billion people worldwide are living at risk of cerebral malaria caused by Plasmodium falciparum. The parasite kills more children and pregnant women than other strains
A world map of malaria caused by P falciparum, created for the year 2007, pinpoints areas at risk. It will help countries take appropriate control measures
The map shows three spatial classes based on constant risk of P falciparum malaria: low prevalence, medium prevalence and high prevalence
The Americas have a low prevalence of P falciparum
80 per cent of Central and southeast Asia come under the low prevalence area, though 11 per cent shows medium prevalence and less than 1 per cent has high prevalence
Africa shows a high prevalence. 0.35 billion people live at high risk
The rest of the world comes under two categories: low risk areas and malaria-free areas
The team, led by the University of Oxford in the UK, studied a total of 8,938 P falciparum parasite incidence surveys from across the world for an age group of 2-10 years
The last map was created in 1968 and suffered from limitations. The present map takes care of those limitations by including relevant data on climate and dominant mosquito species
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