About three million children are likely to die from malaria in Africa this year despite the fact that simple mosquito nets draped over their beds could offer effective protection against the deadly disease.

A mosquito net costs only $5 - about R30 - but a family which has practically no income cannot afford even this amount of money, according to internationally renowned US economist Jeffrey Sachs.

On the occasion of the annual World Health Day on April 7, experts like him highlight a simple equation: Those who are poor are also more likely to be ill.

About 10.6 million infants and small children die every year from illnesses such as pneumonia and diarrhoea that could be either prevented or easily treated. Vaccinations can prevent diseases, a simple saline drip can reinvigorate a small patient dehydrated by diarrhoea.

The decisive factor in infant mortality remains poverty, a study in the British medical journal Lancet found in late March, citing research by the US Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, and the Geneva-based World Health Organisation (WHO).