History of Malaria and Its Control

Malaria is an ancient threat to human health that has relentlessly taken human life for millennia. To appreciate the challenges to malaria control, we must understand the history of the struggle between humans, the malaria parasite, and the mosquito vector.New insights into the epidemiology, transmission characteristics, and population immunity of malaria must build upon the seminal discoveries of Laveran, Ross, and Grassi at the turn of the twentieth century. However, the insight of Angelo Celli and others that malaria control is dependent upon social and economic development, should be kept alive. Malaria and its consequences differentially burden the impoverished rural populations of Africa and Asia and contribute to a vicious cycle of poverty, misery, and injustice. The history of malaria shows that the international cooperation needed to break this cycle is achievable.