Figure 1

The across-country relationship between malaria risk and the allele frequency of MHC alleles were previously shown to be involved in resistance or susceptibility to malaria in within-population studies [12–17]. Upper panels show the relationships for local estimates of malaria risk in malaria endemic countries. Lower panels are for global estimates of malaria risk for all countries for which data on allele frequency were available. Resistance factors: B*53:01, DQB1*05:01, DRB1*01:01, and DRB1*13:02; Susceptibility factors: A*30:01, A*33:01, DPB1*17:01, and DRB1*04:01. Points are country-specific estimates and lines are from regressions that account for the spatially non-random association of countries (dashed: non-significant, solid: significant).