Public health education is carried out at a local community in Tanzania as part of the China-UK-Tanzania Pilot Project on Malaria Control. [Photo courtesy of the National Institute of Parasitic Diseases of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention]

Since the launch of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) in 2013, China has been putting unremitting efforts in global health cooperation, joining hands with more than 160 countries and international organizations in the prevention and control of infectious diseases and chronic diseases, public health emergency response, women's and children's healthcare, healthcare talent development and healthcare innovation, and implementing nearly 2,000 "small yet smart" livelihood projects in those fields. Thanks to China's continuous assistance, BRI partner countries hard hit by malaria have significantly lowered their incidence rate.

Malaria is one of the most fatal infectious diseases in the world, causing serious health problems and even death. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), globally in 2022, there were an estimated 249 million malaria cases and 608,000 malaria deaths in 85 countries; children under 5 accounted for the vast majority of all malaria deaths.

Malaria was historically one of the most persistent, wide-spreading and deadly infectious diseases in China. In the 1940s, China used to report 30 million malaria cases and 300,000 malaria deaths annually. After a 70-year effort, the country achieved a notable health feat, a dramatic drop in indigenous malaria cases from 30 million to zero.