The Fight to Eradicate Malaria

Key Players:

Roll Back Malaria Partnership (RBM)– established in 1998 to coordinate donor’s efforts to fight malaria. Coordination of governments, UN agencies, international organizations, and affected countries.

The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis (TB), and Malaria– created in 2001 as an independent, international institution which provides financing and grants to countries to combat AIDS, TB, and malaria.

United States Government– involved in efforts to eradicate malaria since the 1950’s expanded its efforts to fight malaria in 2000 and is the largest government donor.

The President’s Malaria Initiative (PMI)– began in 2005 and led by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) is the leader in implementation of malaria eradication efforts for the U.S. The PMI has expanded efforts and increased funding for many of the hardest hit areas of Sub-Saharan Africa.  

Goals:

• To reduce the incidence of malaria
• To reduce the mortality rate by at least 90% by 2030
• Eliminate malaria in at least 35 new countries
• Prevent re-establishment of the disease in malaria-free countries

Actions:

Expanding access to these interventions:

• Insecticide treated bed nets (ITNs)
• Indoor residual spraying (IRS) with insecticides
• Entomological monitoring
• Intermittent preventative treatment in pregnancy (IPTp)
• Diagnosis of malaria and treatment with artemisinin-based combination therapies
• Seasonal malaria chemoprevention (SMC)

Existing Challenges:

• Weak healthcare systems in affected countries
• Limited access due to poor infrastructure
• Combating counterfeit or substandard malarial treatments
• Continuing research and development regarding insecticide resistance
• U.S. reduction in funding from $984 billion dollars to a proposed $871 billion dollars in 2020

References:

Kaiser Family Foundation. (2019). Global health policy. Retrieved from https://www.kff.org/global-health-policy/fact-sheet/the-u-s-government-and-global-malaria/

USAID. (2019). U.S. president’s malaria initiative. Retrieved from https://www.pmi.gov/docs/default-source/default-document-library/malaria-operational-plans/fy19/fy-2019-nigeria-malaria-operational-plan.pdf?sfvrsn=3