We report a case of Plasmodium falciparum malaria in a 21 day old child that was born from a mother that developed clinical signs of falciparum malaria just after giving birth and died. Transmission could have occurred either by the transplacental route or by maternal blood reaching the child during the childbirth. Literature review shows that malaria should be considered as a cause of a febrile disease in the newborn, particularly if there is a low birthweight and the newborn is a child of a woman coming from an endemic malaria region.