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cut to the world The biggest funder of malaria preventionInvolved by UK governmentOne report warns that there could be more than one million deaths by 2030 – including 750,000 children.
This could lead to a $83 billion (£62 billion) loss to national economies across Africa, and billions of dollars in additional trade with the rich countries included in the G7.
on 21st November Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malariawhich provides 59 percent of the total international malaria The fund will hold a summit with the aim of raising $18bn (£13.5bn) over the next three years. The event will be co-hosted by the UK and South Africa.
The UK, historically one of the fund’s largest contributors, is widely expected to cut its contribution this year. foreign aid,
A report by African Leaders Malaria Alliance (ALMA) and Malaria No More UK estimates that if the Global Fund can no longer pay for malaria prevention, let alone treatment, nearly one million more people will die by 2030, 750,000 of whom will be children under five years of age.
In the event that the Global Fund raised 80 percent of what it did last time, this would still equate to more than 80,000 additional deaths.
The disease kills about 600,000 people each year, the majority of whom are children under the age of five.
“We are really at a very critical time in human history,” said Joy Phumafi, executive secretary of AMLA and former health minister of Botswana. “There are tools available that can really facilitate the elimination of malaria,” he said, including new vaccines, more effective insecticide-treated bed nets and the use of drones to kill mosquito larvae in standing water.
But, he said, “one of our biggest challenges at the moment is financing”.
“In case of a disease like malaria…we do not need to decline too much in terms of investment [cases] “Spinning out of control,” Ms Phumafi said. “If we don’t maintain the same level of coverage, we are going to have a crisis.”
When Donald Trump cut nearly all foreign aid spending, his administration said it would protect life-saving operations, including malaria drugs. But the US cut back greatly on the staff, transportation and other systems needed to get medicines to people.
“You have life-saving intervention, but not having the vehicles to deliver it to that little child in a rural area is really not going to be of much help to that little child,” Ms Phumafi said.
In some countries, parents are asked to pay out of their own pocket for treatment they cannot afford.
And while African governments are trying to hold on, most do not have the funds to fully bridge the shortfalls created by the aid withdrawal.
Aziza, a schoolteacher in western Kenya, said children in her class often did not get medicine when they had malaria because their parents could not afford it. In many cases they will be given only paracetamol.
“By the end of the week, up to 15 learners out of a class of about 70 children may be absent,” he said, which would reduce academic performance.
“Some of them have high fever and may be sweating…they are not able to concentrate. That’s why you will see the child sleeping all the time in the class.
“And some of them who really love school will come complaining, ‘Teacher, I didn’t go to school because I was sick, but I want to do this and this… I want to be a doctor,'” Aziza said.
“Seeing a child die from malaria is one of the worst experiences you can possibly have,” Ms Phumafi said. “I’ve seen a lot of children die of malaria, and it’s painful, and you can imagine what it’s like for the mother”.
While the toll of these funding gaps can be measured most painfully in lives lost, Ms Phumafi is also keen to emphasize the loss of income to individual households and the productivity of economies.
Children, “lose school days and their performance declines…this is going to show itself in earning capacity in later life”.
The bulk of the Global Fund’s budget comes from governments, but this year it is bidding for greater contributions from private industry and philanthropy.
“The private sector really needs to be mindful of these issues… because of the potential they have in terms of their own productivity,” Ms Phumafi said.
“Malaria causes poverty…and it reduces their market,” he said.
Gareth Jenkins, Managing Director of Malaria No More UK, said: “Full investment in the Global Fund could save millions of children’s lives, unlock billions in growth and make the world safer.
“This not only saves lives around the world but also helps strengthen the UK’s trading links with some of the world’s fastest growing economies in Africa.”
This article was produced as part of The Independent Rethinking global aid Project