UNITED NATIONS, April 19 (Xinhua) -- African countries have seen progress in cutting malaria, but major efforts are still needed to reach global targets, particularly with the investment in malaria control, warns a United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) report launched Monday on the progress seen in the deadly disease.

Ahead of World Malaria Day, which is April 25, UNICEF released a joint report with the Roll Back Malaria (RBM) Partnership, which charts the progress in "counting malaria out" in the report titled, The World Malaria Day 2010: Africa update.

As the 2010 deadline approaches for the UN secretary-general's call to meet universal coverage for anti-malarial intervention, in addition to the UN sponsored "decade to roll back malaria" in sight, the report points out that increased, sustained investment is crucial in achieving this goal.

The report highlighted that out of the nearly 350 million insecticides treated nets for universal coverage, nearly 200 million have been received in African countries between 2007 and 2009.

It noted that countries have adopted more effective treatment strategies in malaria control -- but with a pricey cost in treatment.

Approximately with one-third of the global investment that is needed, country-specific programs are able to save a child's life every three minutes, according to RBM Partnership.

"But more remains to be done as children and pregnant women are still dying of this preventable and treatable disease, especially in Africa," said UNICEF Executive Director Ann M. Veneman in a UNICEF and RBM press release Monday.

The proportion of African children receiving the Artemisinin- based combination therapy (ATC) treatment remains "low" according to the report with the data on the use of diagnostics largely unavailable.

The report also notes that with the total annual global funding reaching 2 billion U.S. dollars by the end of 2009, malaria funding still is short of the estimated 6 billion U.S. dollars that is annually required by the Global Malaria Action Plan (GMAP) to guarantee universal coverage of malaria control interventions.

The report is a second in a series of RBM Progress & Impact report which highlights malaria progress in Africa.

Founded by UNICEF, the World Health Organization (WHO), the World Bank, and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), RBM Partnership is a global framework for coordinated action against malaria that promotes high-level political commitment.