The RBM Partnership to End Malaria is hosted by the United Nations Office for Project Services. It is the largest global platform for coordinated action towards a world free from malaria. It is composed of over 500 partners - from community health worker groups and researchers developing new tools, to malaria-affected and donor countries.
This year's UN General Assembly is dubbed Summit of the Future. The Summit is a high-level event, bringing world leaders together to forge a new international consensus on how we deliver better and safeguard the future. Youth lie at the centre of this year's summit.
Yet, for youth in Africa, which accounts for 95 percent of all malaria cases and 97 percent of all malaria deaths, malaria is a disease that stands in the way of the future. The progress that we saw in the fight against malaria in the last two decades, when malaria cases dropped and nearly 11.7 billion deaths were averted, is under threat.
The climate crisis has seen a resurgence of malaria cases even in places where the disease did not exist. We have seen biological threats that make it harder to treat malaria and eliminate the vectors that spread it. A rise in conflict means human made crisis combine with climate crises to stretch already existing resources, leaving little for the fight against malaria. The result is that there were 249 million cases of malaria in 2022 compared to 244 million in 2021.
Countries that already have significant economic challenges are further strained by a health system that must cater for a disease that can be eliminated. Families are being pushed into poverty due to high health expenditure costs related to malaria. Post-COVID19, most of the half a billion people who were pushed into poverty were from Africa. An estimated 325 million people in African Union, comprising 27 percent of the population, were pushed into poverty due to out-of-pocket expenditures on health. Eliminating malaria will free the health system and the people who use their limited resources on the disease.
Malaria costs Africa half a billion days worth of work each year. Additionally, women spend a lot of their time on unpaid care work, including looking after those suffering from malaria - time that they could have spent on other productive work to improve their lives. Research shows that by getting back on track for the SDG target on malaria by 2030, the GDP of countries in Africa could rise by an additional $127 bn. This represents an average boost of nearly $16bn a year to African economies. This is more than 10 percent of Africa's collective annual spending on health. The research also showed that reaching the SDG goal could see an $81 billion boost to international trade if targets are met by 2030.
Yet, malaria continues to stifle this potential as it disproportionally affects those already vulnerable due to social and biological factors - children under five, pregnant women, people fleeing conflict, low-income earners who cannot afford to access timely and adequate treatment. Malaria kills more people in low-income countries than HIV and TB. An estimated 70 percent of global malaria deaths occur in 11 countries - Burkina Faso, Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ghana, Mali, Mozambique, Niger, Nigeria, Sudan, Uganda and Tanzania. These countries rank in the lowest quarter of the Human Development Index. Diseases such as malaria keep them in the vicious circle of poverty and stands in the way of economic development.
The SDGs envisage that by 2030, the world will be free from malaria. However, we have not invested enough to ensure that we reach this goal. Globally, we have only invested $3.5 billion - less than half of the $7.3 billion that we need to eliminate malaria by 2030. Essential lifesaving services for malaria are not being maintained at current funding levels, with a gap of over 200 million Insecticide Treated Nets to sustain coverage at 2023 levels, and even bigger gaps to get back on track and address biological resistance.
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Countries in Africa are facing a $1.5 billion budget shortfall by 2026 to sustain the current, yet inadequate, coverage of essential malaria interventions. Furthermore, additional annual funding of $5.2 billion is required for the continent to make progress toward elimination and allow countries to fully implement their national strategic plans. Another $11 billion annually is needed to support climate adaptation in the health sector.
It is imperative that the young people from countries affected by malaria actively intervene to end this scourge. Countries such as Cabo Verde, which was declared malaria-free early this year, have shown that it is possible to eliminate malaria. We can only achieve a malaria-free future if we can envision it. This is a call for youth to dare to share possibilities and use creative expressions to show the world what a malaria-free future means and what it will look like.
