By Ania Lichtarowicz BBC World Service health reporter in Yaounde, Cameroon

Most malaria victims are young

The biggest international malaria conference has opened in Cameroon.

Almost 2,000 researchers, health care workers and politicians have gathered to discuss the latest scientific findings on the disease.

Four-fifths of the delegates are from Africa. Most have been sponsored by private industry, international organisations and scientific bodies.

More than 1.5 million people - mostly children under five - die from malaria each year.

Some 90% of the deaths are in Africa.

Unprecedented

Banners with the conference theme decorate the streets of Cameroon's administrative capital, Yaounde.

New strategies against an ancient scourge are seen by many specialists as an ambitious and unachievable goal.

But there is a sense of determination and excitement at the Multilateral Initiative on Malaria, a pan-African conference.

In terms of numbers, the conference is unprecedented.

Most of the African delegates have been sponsored by private industry, the EU, the UN and international scientific bodies like the Wellcome Trust.

Without this support they would not be here.

The economic impact of malaria is huge.

The disease costs Africa more than $12bn in lost output each year, but it could be controlled for a fraction of that sum.

The latest scientific developments are being presented.

But if this meeting does not challenge current thinking - by battling complacency and putting policy into practice - then the most vulnerable will continue to die.