April 25 was the first World Malaria Day - and some essential reading in both The Lancet and The Lancet Infectious Diseases. Also do check out The Lancet podcast where Sally Hargreaves from TLID summarises the latest global efforts in malaria control.

This is also outlined in a Comment in The Lancet by authors from The UN and World Bank - scaling up preventative strategies including a target to disseminate 250 million insecticide-treated bednets by 2010 in the most endemic areas of malaria activity: sub-Saharan Africa and parts of Asia and Latin America.

Also do read the Special Report by Udani Samarasekera which assesses a malaria drug-subsidy programme being trialled in Tanzania - and remember, it was that country we featured two weeks ago in the Countdown issue who are investing substantially in health-care reform, and getting results.

This week’s lead Editorial discusses a fundamental issue underpinning human health: food. It calls for urgent action to be taken at upcoming multinational meetings-including the G8 meeting in July-to reverse some dire factors affecting food availability: higher prices of basic crops including wheat and rice, the negative impact of climate change, and the scourge of biofuels; once seen as a green alternative to conventional fuel consumption, but now known to be having a disastrous effect on food production for people in low-income countries.

And important research from India, with a scary prediction: by 2010, just two years time, 60% of the Indian population will have some form of heart disease, and especially relevant in younger people in that country.

We also publish in the journal important Articles on the HIV drug abacavir and on avian flu transmission that have been published online over the past few weeks.

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