The Third International Conference on Financing for Development kicked off today in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, bringing together top-level officials and representatives to plan for the next 15 years of development under the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). A side event will convene global health stakeholders to present two global strategies in the fight against malaria and to discuss the disease's impact on the broader development agenda.
The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which consisted of targets for addressing extreme poverty and ill health, lasted from 2000-2015 and were successful in reducing the prevalence of malaria around the world. According to the World Health Organization, malaria mortality rates have decreased by 47 percent worldwide since the ambitious goals were developed in 2000. That means that more than 4 million malaria-related deaths have been averted since 2001 - 97 percent of which would have been in children under five. Fewer people than ever before are getting infected with malaria, with many countries focusing on elimination of the disease as a potential target.
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