Global leaders call for increased financing for malaria

At a special side event of the 3rd International Conference on Financing for Development entitled Malaria Financing for a New Era: An Exceptional Case for Investment, global leaders of the malaria community called for increased investment in malaria control and elimination in order to achieve a malaria-free world. Since the start of the Millennium Development Goals in 2000, steep declines in mortality and incidence have made malaria one of the greatest public health success stories. However, at this week’s event, leaders emphasized that consolidating this achievement in order to reach new 2030 targets will require greater financing for malaria by both donors and domestic governments. To reach the first milestone—a 40% reduction in malaria incidence and mortality—experts estimate that malaria investment will need to rise to $6.4 billion per year by 2020.

During the side event, two new strategy documents, the WHO Global Technical Strategy (GTS) for Malaria 2016-2030 and RBM’s Action and Investment to defeat Malaria 2016-2030 (AIM) – for a malaria-free world, highlighted malaria as one of the best-buys in development. In fact, analysis presented in the AIM document estimated the global return on investment for malaria elimination by 2030 could reach 40:1. In order to reach necessary levels of investment for malaria, leaders emphasized the importance of matching donor and domestic financing with innovative financing mechanisms and private sector engagement.