Malaria is one of the greatest public health challenges facing humans today. Malaria kills over one million people every year, that's a child every 30 seconds, or 3,000 children every day!

Malaria parasites are transmitted in the saliva of the female Anopheles mosquitoes when they bite humans. Most bites occur at night, while the victim sleeps. Once a person is bitten, malaria parasites travel to the liver, where they grow for 6-9 days. The parasites then enter the bloodstream and attack red blood cells, causing them to burst. This releases thousands of more parasites into the person's bloodstream to attack other red blood cells, and the cycle of infection continues.

When a non-infected mosquito bites an infected person, the mosquito sucks up parasites from the person's blood. The mosquito is then infected with the malaria parasites. When the infected mosquito bites another person, they will become infected with malaria parasites, and the deadly cycle continues.