Malaria experts are accusing the World Bank of cheating on its pledge to fight the disease.

In a commentary in the medical journal The Lancet, the international team accuses the bank of publishing false financial and statistical accounts, and wasting money on ineffective treatments.

Amir Attaran of the University of Ottawa's Institute of Population Health and his colleagues allege that since 2000, the bank:

Malaria is caused by a parasite transmitted by mosquitoes. (CBC)

• Concealed how much it spends on malaria, reneging on a promise to lend $300 million to $500 million US for malaria control in Africa.
• Downsized its staff of malaria experts from seven to none.
• Published false data to exaggerate how well its projects are doing.
• Bought chloroquine, a clinically obsolete treatment, against the advice of the World Health Organization, for a potentially deadly form of malaria in India.

The commentary and rebuttal were published online on Tuesday, which is Africa Malaria Day.

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"The most disturbing fact ... is that the bank actually does not know, and at best guesses, how much it spends or loans for malaria," says the commentary, signed by 13 doctors, epidemiologists and public-health academics.

In a rebuttal published in the same issue, the World Bank said its aid is often distributed through large programs rather than malaria-specific projects.

"It is not easy, and sometimes not even possible, to know exactly how much input from a specific donor went to a specific activity, be it malaria or any other disease-control effort," wrote the bank's Jean-Louis Sarbib and colleagues.

In response to the choloroquine accusation, the bank countered that resistance is less common in India compared to other countries, saying the drug was "good value for money."

India was also given funds to buy another drug, noted the bank, which has an annual budget of $20 billion US.

Each year, malaria kills more than one million people, mainly African children, according to the World Health Organization.