Malaria has been a major global health problem of humans from history and is a leading cause of death and disease across many tropical and subtropical countries. Over the last 15 years renewed efforts at control have decrease the prevalence of malaria by over half, raising the prospect that reduce and perhaps eradication may be a long-term possibility. Achievement of this goal requires the development of new tools including novel anti malarial drugs and more efficacious vaccines as well as araise understanding of the disease and biology of the parasite. This has catalyzed a major effort resulting in development and regulatory approval of the first vaccine against malaria (RTS, S/AS01) as well as identification of novel drug targets and anti malarial compounds, some of which are in human clinical trials.