James Gathany / CDC
The Pan American Health Organization is setting out a new five-year malaria elimination plan as the Americas mark Malaria Day on November 6, with access to testing and treatment still a central challenge in remote communities.
PAHO’s 2026 campaign says the region reported about 455,000 malaria cases in 2025, concentrated mainly in South America, particularly the Amazon Basin and Colombia’s Pacific coast. Indigenous communities, mining populations and people in remote territories continue to face barriers to diagnosis and care, the organisation says.
The Plan of Action for Malaria Elimination in the Americas 2026–2030 prioritises wider access to diagnosis and treatment, stronger surveillance, new tools to interrupt transmission, and measures to prevent the disease from returning after elimination. Financing, partnerships and community participation are also part of the strategy.
There is progress alongside those challenges. Paraguay, Argentina, El Salvador, Belize and Suriname were certified malaria-free by the World Health Organization between 2018 and 2025, PAHO notes.
A regional event is scheduled for November 6, broadcast from Brasília, under the theme “Zero Malaria in the Americas.” PAHO’s published programme places it at the conclusion of a November 4–6 meeting involving country representatives, experts and partners.
The agenda includes findings from the regional meeting, remarks from country participants and accounts from health workers and local teams. The event is scheduled for 2 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. Eastern Standard Time.
The regional meeting is intended to examine practical gaps in testing and treatment and consider tools that could help countries implement the new plan. For communities far from routine health services, that puts the emphasis on reaching people early enough to diagnose infection and provide appropriate care.
Malaria is preventable and curable, but can become life-threatening. The annual observance draws attention both to countries that have eliminated local transmission and to the work still needed in places where infections persist.
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