Yah, distribution varies, and there are preventive measures you can take, but it still kills a lot of people every year, especially vulnerable groups like children and old people, or people with AIDS. It wasn't any fun watching my daughter get it, and the medicine can be pretty harsh too, depending on the strain and resistance. In Mozambique, the last tropical country I lived in, there's a variety of malaria that goes straight to your brain. The good news is there's a chance a vaccine will be developed in our lifetimes.