Innovative Funding Imperative in Fight Against Malaria – Stakeholders
On this year’s World Malaria Day, stakeholders have called for urgent mobilisation of communities, political; leaders and private businesses to develop as well as support innovative funding initiatives to end malaria.
Speak Up Africa and its partners noted that significant progress has been made in the control of malaria through joint efforts of global actors and national programmes.
According to World Health Organisation (WHO),185 million cases and nearly one million deaths were averted worldwide in 2021 thanks to national programs’ interventions. Despite these efforts, malaria is still a threat to populations, claiming 619,000 deaths in 2021, of which 96 per cent occurred in sub-Saharan Africa.
WHO statistics had shown that in the two peak years of the pandemic (2020–2021), COVID-related disruptions led to about 13 million more malaria cases and 63 000 more malaria deaths and the African Region continues to carry a disproportionately high share of the global malaria burden.
In 2021 the Region was home to about 95 per cent of all malaria cases and 96 per cent of deaths. Children under 5 years of age accounted for about 80 per cent of all malaria deaths in the Region.
Nigeria with 31.3 per cent and three African countries accounted for just over half of all malaria deaths worldwide. the Democratic Republic of the Congo (12.6 per cent), United Republic of Tanzania (4.1 per cent) and Niger (3.9 per cent)
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Malaria is transmitted throughout Nigeria, with 97 per cent of the population at risk of malaria. According to the 2021 World Malaria Report, Nigeria had the highest number of global malaria cases (27 per cent of global malaria cases) and the highest number of deaths (32 per cent of global malaria deaths) in 2020.
The stakeholders cited that the annual number of malaria cases also increased from 232 million in 2019 to 247 million in 2021 and at the same time, funding for malaria control and elimination does not meet the real needs in countries.
The global funding for malaria control in 2021, for example, has been estimated at US$ 3.5 billion. This is less than the US$ 7.3 billion that the WHO estimated was needed to support national malaria control programmes’ efforts in Africa.
They insisted that without sustained investment in malaria control, there is a risk that the progress made in recent decades will be reversed.
A member of the Benin, National Assembly, Aké Natondé, said: “Through innovative approaches, optimized interventions, and sustained investment, we can accelerate our efforts to achieve a healthy, malaria-free Africa. We have the means to end malaria for a more just and equitable world.”
Meanwhile, to address the challenge of funding, the Ecobank Group, the RBM Partnership to End Malaria and Speak Up Africa launched the “Zero Malaria Businesses Leadership Initiative” to engage businesses of all sizes to contribute financially to the efforts of national malaria control programmes.
The initiative, which is being deployed in five African countries (Benin, Burkina Faso, Senegal, Ghana, and Uganda), has mobilized 60 companies to date and their financial and in-kind contributions amount to more than US$ 1.3 million between 2020 and 2023.
“The estimated economic losses due to malaria are US$ 12 billion each year. This is a huge loss to the development of African countries.”
