The African Leaders Malaria Alliance, ALMA, has warned that a 30 per cent cut in malaria financing could trigger 146 million additional cases and nearly 400,000 deaths in Africa by 2030.
The funding reduction could also result in 37 billion dollars in lost Gross Domestic Product, GDP.
The projection was made on Friday at a high-level side event on sustainable malaria financing monitored via webinar on the sidelines of the 81st United Nations General Assembly, UNGA81.
The event, titled “Africa’s Leadership for Sustainable Malaria Financing: A Multisectoral Path to Elimination”, was hosted by Botswana President Duma Gideon Boko, Chair of ALMA, in partnership with the African Union Commission and the RBM Partnership to End Malaria.
African leaders at the event called for stronger domestic financing, multisectoral action and deeper collaboration to protect gains made in the fight against malaria and accelerate progress towards elimination.
Africa currently accounts for 94 per cent of global malaria cases and 95 per cent of malaria deaths.
The leaders said progress had stalled amid major financing shortfalls, extreme weather events, increasing resistance to insecticides and medicines, and humanitarian crises.
They noted that recent Global Fund and Gavi replenishments had fallen short of their targets, while official development assistance for health in Africa continued to decline.
They urged African countries to institutionalize malaria financing within national budgets and development plans and called on development partners to provide predictable support during the transition.
The leaders also called on African countries to include malaria control in their World Bank IDA21 health compacts and urged the World Bank to consider a dedicated Malaria Booster Programme under IDA22.
Boko said Africa had the tools, experience and leadership to change malaria’s trajectory but needed sustainable financing and collective action to achieve a malaria-free future.
He urged countries to pursue a managed transition towards sustainable domestic financing while strengthening political commitment to malaria elimination.
WHO Director-General, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said sustained investment remained critical to preventing a reversal of progress against malaria.
“When investment is sustained, malaria retreats. When financing falls, it returns,” Tedros said.
He said National End Malaria Councils and Funds could provide a practical mechanism for bringing governments, businesses, civil society and communities together to support malaria control and elimination.
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“Every malaria-endemic country should establish and use such a mechanism adapted to its national context,” he said.
Boko also urged member states, development partners and other sectors to translate their commitments into action.
“Let us finance the fight, bring every sector to the table, and deliver the big push to zero malaria,” he said.
Vice President of The Gambia, Muhammad B. S. Jallow, cautioned that domestic financing alone would not sustain the level of investment required to achieve malaria elimination.
“We must be mindful of the fiscal constraints facing many of our countries. Domestic financing alone cannot sustain the level of investment required to reach elimination,” Jallow said.
He called for stronger international partnerships and predictable financing to help countries close existing funding gaps during the final stages of malaria elimination.
Zarau Wendeline Kibwe, Executive Director for the Africa Group 1 Constituency at the World Bank Group, said malaria should remain a priority as countries moved towards negotiations on IDA22.
The event also highlighted cross-border collaboration, local manufacturing and innovation as important components of malaria elimination.
South Africa, as chair of the Southern African Development Community, committed to stronger cross-border collaboration towards regional malaria elimination.
Zimbabwe and Angola committed to local manufacturing of mosquito nets and medicines.
Tanzania said local manufacturing had become part of its national policy, while its scientists were conducting research on malaria-free mosquitoes.
Hon. Mohamed Omary Mchengerwa, Minister of Health of Tanzania, said Tanzanian scientists were conducting gene-drive research at the Ifakara Health Institute in collaboration with the National Institute for Medical Research.
He said the technology would require extensive consultations with communities and government before any deployment, adding that the ministries of health, environment and agriculture were already working on the regulatory framework.
The event formed part of the Big Push against Malaria, a country-led approach aligned with the African Union’s Roadmap to 2030 and Beyond and the broader health development agenda.
The initiative aims to accelerate progress towards malaria elimination through sustained political leadership, stronger domestic financing, multisectoral accountability and coordinated action across borders.
NAN
