Malaria death rate slashed with use of controversial DDT South Africa has turned the tide on malaria, cutting mortality rates by 85 per cent over the past 12 years, and hopes to eliminate the disease soon, a new report shows. Amid controversy over the use of the chemical DDT, the report, delivered at a Pan African Malaria conference in Durban, says only 70 people died last year from the mosquito-borne disease compared with 460 deaths recorded in 2000. The number of people who caught malaria has come down to about a tenth of the cases recorded that same year. "South Africa is well on its way to being a malaria-free country," Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi said. Worldwide, the disease kills an estimated 660,000 people each year, 90 per cent of them in Africa, with the majority being children. South Africa aims to rid the country of the disease by 2018. At the centre of the fight to eliminate infections is the use of the highly contentious insecticide dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane, better known by its acronym DDT, to kill the malaria-transmitting vectors. The chemical, which is sprayed inside houses, is linked to genital birth defects, infertility and cancer, and is banned in many parts of the world. Its use was halted in 1996, but South Africa reintroduced it in 2000 as part of a plan to curb a major malaria outbreak. Authorities say infections soared to more than threefold in 1996 after the use of DDT was halted, rising to 64,500 in 2000. The report says the insecticide has been used cautiously in recent years, "with targeted spraying only in high risk areas." University of Pretoria professor Tiaan de Jager has acknowledged the adverse genetic and hormonal risks linked with DDT, but says its efficacy cannot be discounted. Researchers at the Durban conference said a groundbreaking vaccine could be available by 2015.