A dangerous resurgence of malaria has been detected in Haiti, prompting urgent coordinated action from national public health leaders and international development partners to curb the spread of the preventable, life-threatening disease.
Malaria, a parasitic infection spread to humans through bites from female Anopheles mosquitoes carrying the Plasmodium parasite, poses a particularly grave threat to vulnerable groups including young children and pregnant women. Without prompt, appropriate treatment, the infection can progress to severe neuro-malaria, which carries a high risk of fatal outcomes.
Though full 2025 official statistics are still being compiled by global health authorities, trend data already confirms the severity of the outbreak. Haitian public health officials first raised the alarm in April 2025 after tracking a sharp upward spike in confirmed cases over the preceding 12 months. Official records show caseloads have more than doubled in just two years: jumping from 14,436 confirmed infections in 2023 to 38,591 recorded cases in 2024. Nearly all documented infections – 99 percent of the national total – are concentrated in four southern Haitian departments: Grand’Anse accounts for 54.3 percent of cases, followed by Sud at 33.8 percent, Nippes at 8.5 percent, and Sud-Est at 2.1 percent. Full-year 2026 data will be finalized and released jointly by Haiti’s Ministry of Public Health and Population (MSPP) and the World Health Organization in the coming months.
This 2025 anti-malaria campaign has faced significant setbacks, as worsening nationwide insecurity and large-scale population displacement have severely disrupted intervention efforts. Even amid these obstacles, the national Malaria Elimination Action Plan remains in motion, with a core focus on expanding community-led screening to cut transmission rates dramatically.
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has partnered closely with MSPP to scale up the country’s national response, rolling out evidence-based prevention measures to slow the outbreak. Mass Distribution Campaigns (MDCs) for insecticide-treated bed nets – one of the most effective tools for preventing mosquito bites and new infections – have been a central pillar of the intervention. On the ground, outreach teams, the majority of whom are local women, have worked under extreme challenging conditions to deliver bed nets to at-risk communities. Many households are inaccessible by motorized vehicles, forcing teams to travel on foot or use non-traditional transport to reach the most vulnerable populations, demonstrating extraordinary commitment to the campaign’s goals.
Working alongside a network of partner organizations, UNDP and MSPP share a long-term mission: to reduce malaria’s public health and socioeconomic impact across Haiti sustainably, while strengthening community-level resilience to future public health threats.