Report | Lost Learning, Lost Earning: How malaria steals children’s education and holds back economic growth

Malaria kills a child every minute. But for the millions who survive it, the damage doesn’t stop there. 

Our new report, Lost Learning, Lost Earning: How malaria steals children’s education and holds back economic growth, uncovers the hidden cost of how malaria not only threatens children’s lives, but also their future prosperity. It is stealing education from millions of children in Africa, damaging their future earning potential, and holding back economic growth across the continent.  

Malaria is a preventable and treatable disease, yet its impact on children and young people’s chances to learn, earn, and build their futures remains vast. Lost learning, lost earning demonstrates the significant damage that malaria does to children’s education and future potential: 

• On average, children will miss almost half a year of their overall time in school, and face an 8% drop in their lifetime earnings due to malaria. 
• Young people joining the workforce today will have missed nearly 100 days of school on average because of malaria and are projected to lose 10% of their potential lifetime earnings. 
• But there is hope in the numbers too. Hitting the Sustainable Development Goal of cutting malaria cases by 90% by 2030 would deliver an additional 377 million years of schooling and increase lifetime earnings by around $1.2 trillion. 

Progress to prevent and control malaria has slowed and so have the health, education and financial gains for children and economies. This report shows what is at stake for children, families, and economies, and what is possible if we get back on track. Investing in ending malaria is an investment in education, in opportunity, and in economic growth. 

This report is published in November 2026 by Malaria No More UK, in support of the RBM Partnership to End Malaria. It draws on analysis by Impact Global Health and as a contribution to Zero Malaria, a global movement born out of the grassroots pan-African campaign Zero Malaria Starts with Me, that is committed to ending malaria in a generation.

The report has been published in English and French. You can also download the executive summary in English and French.