Malaria is endemic in over 100 countries containing half the world’s population. Close to two million persons die yearly from malaria—over 5,000 per day, mainly young children in Africa. Plasmodium falciparum, one of five human malaria parasites, causes the most severe disease, manifesting in anemia, low birth weight, cerebral malaria, metabolic derangements, and dire sequelae including cognitive impairment. The greatest burden of malaria is in sub-Saharan African due to the pervasiveness of Anopheles gambiae, the female of which prefers biting humans for its blood meals within households. P. vivax is now recognized as causing up to 400 million clinical episodes of malaria yearly, with added dangers due to its relapsing nature; this species is not generally present in sub-Saharan Africa. Recent advances in malaria research and public health practice have resulted in development and use of artemisinin-based combination treatments (ACTs) for patients exposed to drug-resistant malaria; long-lasting insecticide treated bednets (LLINs) for personal protection; intermittent preventive treatment (IPT) for protecting pregnant women; and renewed deployment of insecticide residual spraying (IRS) of dwellings with DDT and alternate insecticides. Organizations stimulating the major increases in malaria research, control and prevention are the Global Fund for HIV/AIDS, TB, and Malaria, World Health Organization, Multilateral Initiative on Malaria, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, World Bank, and the U.S. President’s Malaria Initiative. Zanzibar Island, Eritrea, Zambia, Malawi, Rwanda, Ethiopia, and Southern African countries report sharp decreases in the malaria burden recently giving hope that sustained control and elimination of this scourge may be possible.