Is There Malaria in Belize? WHO's Certification and What CDC Says
Verified on 14 November 2026 on the World Health Organization’s certification release and Q&A of 21 June 2023, the Pan American Health Organization’s Belize is malaria-free! page, and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Belize traveler page.
The World Health Organization (WHO) certified Belize as malaria-free on 21 June 2023. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), on the Belize page it publishes for US travellers, read on 14 November 2026, says: “Malaria is a risk in some parts of Belize.” That CDC page was last reviewed on September 03, 2026. The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) says “The last indigenous malaria case was reported in December 2018” and that the last death due to malaria was reported in 2006. The WHO certification and the CDC line are two agencies’ statements, and they differ.
| Date | The record | Who says it |
|---|---|---|
| 1957 to 1963 | Annual malaria cases fell “from over 1000 to just 17” | WHO Q&A, 21 June 2023 |
| 1965 | “the number of cases had increased 12-fold” | WHO Q&A, 21 June 2023 |
| 1982 | “over half of all localities in Belize’s 6 districts reported malaria transmission” | WHO Q&A, 21 June 2023 |
| 1994 | A peak of about 10 000 cases | WHO release, 21 June 2023 |
| 2006 | Last death due to malaria reported | PAHO page, read 14 November 2026 |
| December 2018 | Last indigenous malaria case reported | PAHO page, read 14 November 2026 |
| 2019 | Zero indigenous cases | WHO release, 21 June 2023 |
| 21 June 2023 | Belize certified malaria-free | WHO release, 21 June 2023 |
| September 03, 2026 | Traveler page last reviewed, with the line “Malaria is a risk in some parts of Belize.” | CDC, read 14 November 2026 |
What WHO’s certification says
WHO’s release of 21 June 2023 says it “has certified Belize as malaria-free, following the country’s over 70 years of continued efforts to stamp out the disease”. Its note to editors gives the standard: “The certification is granted when a country has shown – with rigorous, credible evidence – that the chain of indigenous malaria transmission by Anopheles mosquitoes has been interrupted nationwide for at least the past three consecutive years.” The same note says a national surveillance system “capable of rapidly detecting and responding to any malaria cases must be operational”, and that the final decision rests with the WHO Director-General, on a recommendation by the independent Technical Advisory Group on Malaria Elimination and Certification.
The release says that with Belize “a total of 42 countries and 1 territory have been certified as malaria-free by WHO, including 11 countries in the Region of the Americas”, and that Belize “is the third country to be awarded a malaria-free status in 2023, following the certifications of Azerbaijan and Tajikistan in March”. It quotes PAHO’s Director, Dr Jarbas Barbosa, saying Belize “today becomes the fourth country in the Americas and the second in Central America to be certified as free of malaria over the last 5 years”.
Before certification, in WHO’s and PAHO’s words
- 1950s and 1960s: WHO’s Q&A of 21 June 2023 says Belize launched a programme aimed at eliminating malaria nationwide in 1950, set up a National Malaria Eradication Service within its Ministry of Health in 1957, and began systematically collecting malaria case data in 1959.
- The 1980s and 1990s: the same Q&A says cases continued to rise in the 1980s, which it attributes to “a shrinking malaria control budget and an influx of refugees from neighboring malaria-endemic countries during a period of political upheaval”. PAHO’s page says that from the late 1980s until the mid-1990s “the country had thousands of malaria cases, which started to steadily decline afterwards”.
- From 2015: WHO’s release says Belize “reoriented its malaria programme to place a greater focus on enhanced surveillance among high-risk populations”.
- Partners WHO names: the Belize Vector Ecology Center for entomological surveillance, cross-border collaboration with Mexico and Guatemala, and, in the Q&A, the banana, sugar and citrus industries for early detection of cases among migrant workers.
PAHO’s page says that with no indigenous cases since December 2018, “the country continues investing in the prevention of the re-establishment of malaria transmission”, and lists among Belize’s actions “Vector control interventions in selected areas at higher risk of malaria importation”. WHO’s Q&A says Belize “has developed a plan to prevent the re-establishment of malaria transmission”.
What CDC tells US travellers
CDC’s Belize traveler page, last reviewed September 03, 2026 and read on 14 November 2026, is a US agency’s guidance for US travellers, not a statement by Belize or by WHO. Its malaria section opens: “Malaria is a risk in some parts of Belize.” It also states: “Malaria is always a serious disease and may be a deadly illness.” The page links a CDC Yellow Book table, Yellow Fever Vaccine and Malaria Prevention Information, by Country. CDC’s other disease listings for Belize are set out on our Is Belize safe? page, and Belize’s own entry rules for US citizens on our entry requirements page.
What these agencies don’t publish
- Which parts of Belize CDC means. CDC’s traveler page, read on 14 November 2026, names none. We have not read the Yellow Book table it links, so we say nothing about its contents.
- A count of imported cases since certification. None of the WHO, PAHO or CDC pages we read gives one.
How we researched this
On 14 November 2026 we read WHO’s news release Belize certified malaria-free by WHO and WHO’s Q&A: how Belize eliminated malaria (both dated 21 June 2023), PAHO’s page Belize is malaria-free!, and CDC’s Belize traveler page. Every date and figure is as its agency prints it: WHO writes 10 000 with a space and CDC writes its review date month first. We calculated nothing, and this page gives no health advice of its own.
Sources
- World Health Organization: Belize certified malaria-free by WHO, dated 21 June 2023: the certification, over 70 years of effort, 42 countries and 1 territory, 11 in the Americas, third in 2023, the Barbosa quote, the 1994 peak and zero indigenous cases in 2019, the 2015 reorientation, the partners, the certification standard and who decides.
- World Health Organization: Q&A, how Belize eliminated malaria, dated 21 June 2023: 1950, 1957 and 1959, the 1957-1963 and 1965 figures, 1982, the 1980s rise, the industry partners, the plan against re-establishment.
- Pan American Health Organization: Belize is malaria-free!: last indigenous case December 2018, last death 2006, thousands of cases from the late 1980s to the mid-1990s, the prevention actions.
- CDC Travelers’ Health: Belize, traveler view: the malaria sentences, the Yellow Book link, last reviewed September 03, 2026.
Last verified: 2026-11-14
Researched and written by Estuardo Enriquez for belizetravelblog.com, an independent site with no connection to any airport, airline, tour operator or government body.