There has been a fall of just over 20% in the number of deaths from malaria¹ worldwide in the past decade, the World Health Organization says.

世界卫生组织称，在过去的十年内，全世界因疟疾死亡的人数下降了20%。

A new report said that one-third of the 108 countries where malaria was endemic（地方病） were on course to eradicate²（根除） the disease within 10 years.

Experts said if targets continued to be met, a further three million lives could be saved by 2015.

Malaria is one of the deadliest global diseases, particularly in Africa.

In 2009, 781,000 people died from malaria. The mosquito-borne disease is most prevalent in sub-Saharan Africa, where 85% of deaths occurred, most of them children under five.

An earlier report here incorrectly referred to a 40% drop in deaths.

It has been eradicated³ from three countries since 2007 - Morocco, Turkmenistan and Armenia.

The Roll Back Malaria Partnership⁴ aims to eliminate malaria in another eight to 10 countries by the end of 2015, including the entire WHO European Region.

Robert Newman, director of the WHO's Global Malaria Programme, said "remarkable⁵ progress" had been made.

"Better diagnostic testing and surveillance has provided a clearer picture of where we are on the ground - and has shown that there are countries eliminating malaria in all endemic regions of the world," he told an international Malaria Forum⁶ conference in Seattle.

"We know that we can save lives with today's tools."