YANGON, Dec. 27 (Xinhua) -- The number of malaria cases and its death rate both dropped in Myanmar, meeting the target of the UN millennium goal, according to the Ministry of Health Tuesday.

The malaria cases fell from 24 per 1,000 population in 1990 to 10 in 2010, while the death rate declined from 13 per 100,000 population in 1990 to 2 in 2010.

The declinations were attributed to the efforts made by the Ministry of Health, local and international non-governmental organizations in fighting the disease.

According to statistics, there were about 500,000 malaria cases in Myanmar and about 1,000 people died of the mosquito-borne disease every year.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), there are around 500 million malaria cases globally and the disease caused death of an estimated one million people annually.