Global estimates of the number of pregnancies at risk of malaria from 2007 to 2020: a demographic study.

Background: The most recent global estimates of the number of pregnancies at risk of Plasmodium falciparum and Plasmodium vivax malaria infection are from 2007. To inform global malaria prevention and control efforts, we aimed to estimate the global distribution of pregnancies at risk of malaria infection from 2007 to 2020.

Methods: We used estimates from the Malaria Atlas Project on the total population living in areas of P falciparum and P vivax transmission, combined with country-specific demographic data on women of reproductive age, fertility rates, induced abortions, and stillbirths, to derive the annual number of pregnancies overall, by parasite species, and by endemicity strata from 2007 to 2020.