'Half of Burundi population have malaria'

The parasite that causes malaria is transmitted from the female mosquito's saliva

Some 5.7 million cases of malaria have been recorded in Burundi in 2019, AFP news agency quotes the UN's humanitarian agency as saying.

That's roughly half the population of the country.

Malaria has killed more than 1,800 people in Burundi this year, AFP reports the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in its latest situation report.

The death toll rivals that of the Ebola outbreak in neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo - where more than 1,800 people have died in the last year.

OCHA reportedly said in May that the outbreak had crossed epidemic proportions.