PAHO Launches Malaria Elimination Plan for Americas
The 2026-2030 action plan targets a 50 per cent cut in malaria incidence by 2030 compared with 2024 levels.
Updated on Nov. 6, 2026 in Allergies
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The Pan American Health Organization has presented its Action Plan for Malaria Elimination in the Americas for 2026-2030, launched at a regional meeting in Brasilia, Brazil. The plan follows roughly 537,000 malaria cases reported in the Americas in 2024.
Why it matters
Malaria cases in the region have stagnated at around half a million per year, and persistent barriers to timely diagnosis and treatment remain. Without a faster and more targeted response, transmission could persist and opportunities to advance toward elimination could be lost.
Surveillance data show malaria cases fell 4.6 per cent between 2015 and 2025, from about 480,000 to about 458,000, while 22 municipalities in six countries still accounted for 43 per cent of regional cases. The extraction does not specify how the 2030 targets will be funded or monitored.
The players
Pan American Health Organization
The regional health agency of the Americas, serving as the World Health Organization's regional office for the region.
Suriname
A South American nation that became the first country in the Amazon Basin to eliminate malaria in 2025.
The details
The plan proposes expanding rapid diagnostic tests and strengthening community-based diagnosis and treatment networks under health team supervision. It also promotes reactive interventions, chemoprevention, and new tools to achieve radical cure of P. vivax malaria and reduce relapses.
Timeline
2015: Malaria deaths stood at 169 and cases at a 480,000 baseline.
2018: Regional malaria-free certifications began.
2024: About 537,000 malaria cases were reported, the plan's baseline year.
2025: Suriname eliminated malaria, and deaths fell to 115.
2026-2030: The Action Plan for Malaria Elimination in the Americas is implemented.
Big Picture
Since 2018, Argentina, Paraguay, El Salvador, Belize, and Suriname have been certified malaria-free by the Pan American Health Organization. The new plan extends that certification track record into a broader regional elimination target for 2030.
Expanded rapid diagnostic testing and community-based treatment networks could make malaria diagnosis and treatment faster in affected areas. Radical cure efforts for P. vivax aim to reduce relapses for people already infected.
The takeaway
Malaria elimination in the Americas depends on closing gaps in timely diagnosis and treatment in the highest-burden municipalities. Sustained attention to those local hotspots will shape whether the region meets its 2030 target.
Further reading
For broader context on infectious and vector-borne conditions, see the Allergies section.
Source note: This article includes information reported by CANANews.
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