Around 11 million more cases malaria were recorded in 2023 from 2022, which they increased to an estimated 263 million, according to a new report by the World Health Organization (WHO). These figures show another year of negligible progress in the fight against the disease.

They were also recorded 597,000 deathsas many as in 2022. In most of them, among the children in Africa aged under 5 years oldaccording to WHO.

“No one should die from malaria, yet the disease continues to disproportionately affect people living in Africa, especially young children and pregnant women,” Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director general of WHO, noted in a WHO announcement.

Malaria cases and deaths decreased significantly between the 2000 and the 2015but progress has since stalled and even reversed, with a notable increase in mortality during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Case numbers aren’t just rising as populations grow, according to the agency. In 2015 there were 58 cases per 1,000 people considered at risk, in 2023 there were 60.4, almost three times the WHO target. There were also 13.7 deaths per 100,000 people considered at risk, more than double the agency’s target.

Now there are new means to combat this disease transmitted by mosquitoesamong which two vaccines as well as next-generation mosquito nets, but climate change, conflict and displacement, resistance to drugs and insecticides and a lack of funding all combine to make tackling the disease difficult, the WHO said, although progress is being made in some countries.

In 2023 $4 billion was allocated to fight malaria, compared to the estimated $8.3 billion needed, the agency concluded in its statement.