New York  - Every 30 seconds, somewhere in the world, a child dies of malaria, and ending the scourge of the preventable disease is a major development priority, the United Nations Childrens Fund said Friday.

Despite substantial progress in the fight against malaria, especially the increased distribution of insecticide-treated nets, the disease still kills an estimated 1 million people every year, UNICEF said on the eve of World Malaria Day on Saturday.

About 90 per cent of all malaria deaths occur in sub-Saharan Africa, mainly among children under five. About 50 million pregnant women are exposed to malaria each year, which contributes to nearly 20 per cent of low birth weight babies, as well as stillbirths and maternal deaths.

Malaria control is among the eight Millennium Development Goals, a set of targets that countries are striving to achieve by 2015. However, the report cautioned that the widening global financial crisis has raised concerns about consistent international funding for health programmes, including malaria.

"We are, for the first time in history, poised to make malaria a rare cause of death and disability," said Ann Veneman, Unicef executive director. "Scaling-up effective interventions has led to declines in malaria cases and deaths at health facilities in many countries, including Eritrea, Rwanda, Zambia and Madagascar."

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has set a deadline of 31 December, 2010, for all malaria-endemic countries to ensure universal distribution of malaria medication and treated mosquito nets. (dpa)