Is there a malaria risk in Morocco?

Here's a genuinely good piece of news that puts a lot of travellers at ease: Morocco does not have malaria. The country eliminated local transmission years ago and has been officially certified malaria-free, which means that for a standard holiday or tour you do not need to take antimalarial tablets at all. If you've travelled in malaria zones before and dreaded the vivid dreams, sun sensitivity, or stomach upset that some prophylaxis brings, you can simply leave all of that behind for Morocco.

I make a point of telling people this because the assumption that 'Africa equals malaria' is so widespread that travellers sometimes turn up clutching a strip of doxycycline they never needed. Morocco's climate and successful public-health efforts mean the disease isn't circulating here. The only nuance worth knowing is the theoretical risk of an imported case combined with the right mosquito, but in practical terms, for the traveller, the answer is a clean no.

That said, mosquitoes themselves haven't vanished — particularly near water, in lush valleys, around oases, and on warm summer evenings you'll meet them. They won't give you malaria, but they can give you itchy, sleepless nights, and there are other mosquito-borne illnesses in the wider region it's simply sensible to avoid. So I still pack and recommend a decent insect repellent, light long sleeves for dusk, and a plug-in or coil for the room — purely for comfort and good measure, not because malaria is a concern.

As always, I'm a travel designer and not a doctor, and public-health advice can be updated, so do a quick check with a travel clinic or an official source close to your departure date to confirm nothing has changed. But as things stand, you can pack for Morocco knowing malaria tablets aren't on the list — one less thing to worry about, and one of the easier health questions I get to answer.