World Malaria Day 2009

Results on Reducing Malaria Deaths Inspire Mightier Moves to Fight the Disease

The Global Fund is financing an all out offensive to control malaria through its grants and through partnerships. The overwhelming success of existing projects has inspired an even mightier move to fight malaria.

During the last few years, the Global Fund has supplied over 74 million effective malaria drug treatments for free. In addition – more than 70 million bed nets have been distributed. The accessibility of effective drugs combined with national campaigns to provide mosquito bed-nets for families living in areas with malaria have made an impact on disease far beyond expectations.

Recent data shows progress in fighting malaria has been achieved even faster than was believed possible, including exciting data from Zambia which show that deaths from malaria have been cut by two-thirds.

Progress in Fighting Disease has led to Expansion of Programs

Around one million people die of malaria every year – 90 percent of them are young children in Africa. Just seven years after coming into being, the Global Fund now contributes two-thirds of all international financing for malaria. It is supporting 175 programs fighting malaria in 83 countries with grants totaling US$ 4.6 billion.

The latest round of funding – Round 8 – was a record breaker, with the highest amount of new financing approved by the Global Fund ever. Over half of the approved proposals were for malaria programs amounting to US$ 1.4 billion over two years.

The recent launch of an initiative known as the Affordable Medicines Facility – malaria (AMFm) brings together development partners to make the more effective but costly new antimalarial medicines far less expensive in some countries.

Malaria drugs, test kits and bed nets are valuable tools to fight disease – getting them into the right hands is a vital part of Global Fund’s commitment to strengthening health care. Training and equipping staff and community health workers ensures that disease is prevented or adequately treated.