The World Health Organization has declared China officially malaria-free on Wednesday.

This makes China the first country in the Western Pacific region to eliminate the life-threatening disease in more than 30 years.

Malaria, a parasitic disease transmitted through the bite of a female mosquito, kills 400,000 people a year worldwide, the majority children younger than 5, according to WHO. 

Malaria cases in China have been falling steeply since the turn of the century. 

In 2020, after reporting four consecutive years of zero indigenous cases, China applied for an official WHO certification of malaria elimination, which was granted this week.