"Malaria is a pandemic disease that hits the voiceless hardest: most of those who fall ill and die are small children and pregnant women in Africa. It is the leading infectious killer of the continent, responsible for nearly 600,000 deaths a year. Cases are rising and there is an urgent need for more funding, yet western donor countries are instead cutting back on aid."
"Most of the money to fight the mosquito-borne disease 59% comes through the Global Fund to Fight Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria. Its executive director, Peter Sands, said last week at the World Health Summit in Berlin that of the three killers, the one that kept him awake at night was malaria. This could be the canary in the coalmine. Malaria kills far more quickly than HIV or tuberculosis."
Malaria causes the largest infectious-disease toll in Africa, disproportionately killing small children and pregnant women and causing nearly 600,000 deaths annually. Cases rose in 2023, and an expert report warns a resurgence could add almost a million deaths by decade's end. Most funding (59%) flows through the Global Fund, yet western donor cuts and aid diversions are reducing resources. Funding losses and diminished global-health expertise will affect malaria figures faster than many diseases. Climate change is altering rainfall and expanding mosquito ranges. Artemisinin resistance in east Africa undermines drugs and bed nets. Vaccines reduce mortality by about 50% in the first year but do not stop transmission.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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