Malaria
The Challenge
The fight against malaria is more precarious than at any point in recent years. Millions of lives are at risk: In 2024 alone, there were an estimated 282 million cases and 610,000 deaths globally, with the vast majority occurring in sub-Saharan Africa. Children under 5 accounted for almost 75% of deaths in countries supported by the Global Fund, and pregnant women remain particularly vulnerable.
More than ever before, the Global Fund needs to 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, address persistently inadequate funding for malaria programs, invest in new approaches and innovations and improve use of existing tools. If we do not increase investment in fighting malaria, we must accept that we are effectively abandoning the 2030 goal to end the disease as a public health threat.
Malaria in Countries Where the Global Fund Invests
Funding
- The Global Fund provides 57% of all international financing for malaria programs.
- We have invested US$21.4 billion in malaria control programs as of June 2026.
Testing and Treatment
- 367 million suspected cases of malaria were tested in 2025.
- 167 million cases of malaria were treated in 2025.
Prevention
- 196 million insecticide-treated mosquito nets distributed to protect families from malaria in 2025.
- 25.8 million people were protected by indoor residual spraying in 2025.
- 52.1 million children received seasonal malaria chemoprevention in 2025.
- 19.9 million pregnant women received preventive treatment for malaria in 2025.
Our Response
The Global Fund provides 57% of all international financing for malaria programs and has invested US$21.4 billion in malaria control programs as of June 2026.
These investments are making an impact. In countries where the Global Fund invests, malaria deaths have dropped by 27% between 2002 and 2024. Without these interventions, malaria deaths would have increased by 99% over the same period.
Trends in malaria deaths
Trends in malaria cases
Malaria burden estimates and estimation of “no malaria control” from WHO Global Malaria Programme, 2025 release. Global Fund portfolio indicates countries that have recently received Global Fund malaria funding and have reported programmatic results over the past two cycles. Global Fund Regional Groupings.
Testing and Treatment
Timely testing and treatment of malaria is fundamental to preventing deaths. The Global Fund works with partners to support the delivery of good quality, people-centered health services at public and private facilities and at the community level. Our partners also work with communities in malaria-endemic areas to provide information about what malaria is, how it is transmitted, how to prevent it, and, most importantly, what actions to take if malaria is suspected.
The more than 2 million community health workers in the countries where the Global Fund invests are a critical force in the fight to eliminate malaria, particularly in hard-to-reach rural villages. Community health workers lead outreach campaigns that raise awareness in communities about lifesaving prevention methods so people at risk for malaria can take full advantage of them.
Prevention
Malaria prevention underpins malaria control efforts and is the most effective way to dramatically reduce cases and deaths. The Global Fund invests in multiple new and existing tools to prevent malaria.
These include insecticide-treated nets, indoor residual spraying, and seasonal malaria chemoprevention (SMC) for children under 5, all of which are most often distributed through large-scale campaigns.
As the effectiveness of traditional tools and vector control is being challenged by insecticide resistance, the Global Fund is working with countries to prioritize sustaining existing insecticide-treated mosquito net coverage. Dual AI insecticide-treated mosquito nets, introduced to overcome resistance to a single insecticide, have been widely adopted by countries supported across the Global Fund partnership. Following the WHO recommendation in 2023, these nets made up 78% of the insecticide-treated nets procured through the Global Fund’s Pooled Procurement Mechanism in Grant Cycle 7 (2023-2025).
The Global Fund collaborates with partners to support countries in rolling out RTS,S and R21 – the first two malaria vaccines recommended by WHO to prevent malaria in children. The Global Fund, Gavi and Unitaid jointly funded pilots in Ghana, Kenya and Malawi to introduce the RTS,S malaria vaccine. Malaria vaccines produce the highest impact when deployed within a comprehensive suite of WHO-recommended, lifesaving malaria prevention efforts, including SMC and insecticide-treated mosquito nets.
In the hardest-hit countries across the Sahel, the Global Fund supports the rollout of SMC campaigns, a cost-effective and targeted intervention for young children that helps prevent illness during peak transmission periods. In 2025, 52.1 million children received the full schedule of this preventive treatment.
Successes in fighting drug-resistant malaria in the Greater Mekong region show that a well-funded joint effort works. The Regional Artemisinin-resistance Initiative (RAI) – the Global Fund’s largest regional grant – was launched in 2013 in response to the emergence of drug-resistant malaria in the Greater Mekong region. The Global Fund is investing more than US$700 million through this initiative to accelerate malaria elimination as a bulwark against drug resistance. It is working: In the decade to 2022, reported cases of malaria in Cambodia, the Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Myanmar, Thailand and Viet Nam have been reduced by 92%, and estimated deaths from all types of malaria have been reduced by 88%.
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