Malaria deaths soar in Ethiopia

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Lema Tefera's voice broke as he described losing four children to malaria in just one month — deaths that could likely have been prevented if not for the conflict in Ethiopia's Oromia region.

"There was no malaria medication and treatment in our village due to the fighting," the farmer told AFP by phone.

Africa accounts for about 95% of the 250 million malaria cases and more than 600,000 deaths across the globe each year, according to the World Health Organization.

Experts say the situation is worsening in Ethiopia's most populous region, Oromia, where a conflict has been raging between the government and a rebel group — the Oromo Liberation Army (OLA) — since 2018, severely disrupting health services.

Doctors, experts, and aid workers told AFP fatal cases were surging thanks to the "perfect storm" of climate change and violence.