A new report on malaria from the World Health Organization outlines some positive news. Among the key findings is that the distribution of bed nets and medications have cut malaria deaths in half in Rwanda and Ethiopia.

From a Washington Post article this afternoon:

“This is the first time we have seen these results with the new tools,” said Arata Kochi, head of malaria programs for WHO.

“This is a genuinely historic achievement,” said Richard G.A. Feachem, former director of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. “This is not theoretical. We do not have to wait for a vaccine or new drugs. If we implement today’s technologies aggressively on a national scale, we will have a big impact.”

Two key items in the current “tool kit” are bed nets impregnated with insecticide that lasts three to five years and treatment with at least two drugs. One of them is artemisinin, a compound originally derived from a Chinese herbal medicine.

Read the Washington Post article here. Tomorrow we’ll be able to link to the full report.

-Virginia Simmons