Malaria stakeholders call on UK government to continue prioritizing global malaria spending

On October 16, 2020, malaria stakeholders published a letter to the Government of the United Kingdom in The Times, a British national newspaper. The group of 20 signatories, comprised of malaria scientists, researchers, survivors, and private sector leaders, highlighted the threat that the current COVID-19 pandemic poses to global progress in the fight against malaria and exhorted the UK government to reinvigorate spending for global anti-malaria efforts that will facilitate malaria eradication within a generation.

Please see below for the full text of the letter and a complete list of signatories. The letter can be read on the website of The Times at this link (paid subscription required for access).

Sir,

The pandemic is not the first threat to humanity and will not be the last. To date, malaria has killed billions of children, men and women across the world. Britain has played a vital role, financially and through scientific innovation and creativity, in fighting malaria, to the extent that cases and deaths are down to the lowest they have ever been. As a result, we are collectively safer and health services have more time to deal with other emergencies. But unless malaria is totally extinguished there could be a resurgence. The Covid-19 pandemic is disrupting diagnosis and treatment, putting progress on malaria at risk. As the chancellor reviews state spending, we urge the government to renew its financial commitment to tackling malaria. It is a disease we can end within a generation, and Britain must continue to lead the way.

James Whiting, CEO, Malaria No More UK  

Sir Brian Greenwood, CBE, Professor of Clinical Tropical Medicine, The London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine  

The Rt Hon Sir Stephen O'Brien, KBE, Chair, The Innovative Vector Control Consortium  

Dr. Nick Hamon, CEO, The Innovative Vector Control Consortium  

Professor Sir Richard Feachem, KBE, Director of the Global Health Group at the University of California San Francisco and Co-Chair of The Lancet Commission on malaria eradication  

Professor Kevin Marsh, Professor of Tropical Medicine at the University of Oxford and Senior Advisor at the African Academy of Sciences  

Professor Sir Nicholas White, Professor of Tropical Medicine, University of Oxford  

Professor Azra Ghani, Chair of Infectious Disease Epidemiology, Imperial College London  

Charlie Webster, Broadcaster and malaria survivor  

Anyika Onuora, Olympic athlete and malaria survivor  

Ross Plummer, Managing Director Europe, Ridley Scott Creative Group  

Euan Jarvie, CEO Dentsu, UK & Ireland  

Victor Riparbelli, Co-Founder and CEO, Synthesia  

Tim Warrillow, Co-Founder and CEO, Fever-Tree

David Reddy, CEO, Medicines for Malaria Venture  

Fiona Smith-Laittan, Vice President of Global Health, GSK  

Professor Jake Baum, Co-Director of the Institute of Infections, Imperial College London  

Dr. Aubrey Cunnington, Reader in Paediatric Infectious Diseases, Imperial College London  

Professor Colin Sutherland, Professor of Parasitology, Co-Director, Malaria Centre, The London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine  

Professor Sian Clarke, Professor of Epidemiology and Global Health, Co-Director, Malaria Centre, The London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine