Publisher’s note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

This is a summary of: Watson, O. J. et al. Global risk of selection and spread of Plasmodium falciparum histidine-rich protein 2 and 3 gene deletions. Nat. Med. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41591-025-03974-3 (2025).