The fight against malaria is one of humanity’s most significant public health successes. Great progress was made in malaria control over the last two decades, resulting in a reduction in overall cases and deaths. But after years of steady declines, malaria cases and deaths are on the rise. Today, a child dies of malaria every minute.
Funding has plateaued, drug and insecticide resistance are increasing, and climate change threatens to push malaria transmission into new regions. More than ever before, we must support countries in their efforts to revitalize and sustain the fight against malaria. We must strive to provide better and more equitable access to all health services, vastly increase funding for malaria programs, invest in new approaches and innovations and improve the use of existing tools.
As Fazila navigates her way through her own crisis, she is also protecting her community. After losing her home and all her belongings in the unprecedented floods in Sindh province, Pakistan, in 2022, Fazila, a 25-year-old midwife, began working in mobile health units set up by the Indus Hospital and Health Network.
Nothing could stop the flood waters. Fazila, a 25-year-old midwife, received a red alert to evacuate her village in Pakistan’s Sindh province.
Salisu and his wife Basira brought their 2-year-old son Maila to the local health center in Sabon-Gari in Kano State, Nigeria, as soon as he showed signs of fever. He started having convulsions and tested positive for malaria.
In Rusesa, a village in Tanzania’s Kigoma region, a group of people – mostly women and children – gather to plan how to confront the neighborhood’s deadliest creature: the mosquito.