The Philippines: Supporting Country- and Community-led Efforts to End Malaria
The end of malaria is in sight in the Philippines.
In 2002, the country recorded 38,347 cases of malaria and 122 deaths. Today, 72 of the Philippines’ 82 provinces are malaria-free, with nine provinces declaring zero indigenous cases and only one province with active transmission of the disease, registering 6,189 cases in 2023.
The Global Fund works with the government, private sector partners including the Pilipinas Shell Foundation, Inc., and civil society organizations to fight malaria in Palawan, the last province where the disease is still a threat – focusing on early testing and treatment, distributing insecticide-treated mosquito nets and implementing robust community mobilization campaigns to raise awareness about the disease. Global Fund grants also support health workers and microscopists who visit remote areas to test people for malaria, distribute mosquito nets and hold talks on prevention and treatment with nomadic and Indigenous groups.
Two decades of partnership and investment has brought the Philippines to the brink of elimination – but climate changed-fueled drought and storms threaten the country’s vision to end malaria by 2030. Typhoons hit the coast with increasing severity each year, destroying homes and health infrastructure and creating pools of stagnant water where disease-carrying mosquitoes thrive. In the mountains and forests, lack of rain has forced some indigenous people to move, complicating efforts to reach them with medicine and essential health services.
With Global Fund support, the Philippine government is investing in health systems that can withstand and counter the impacts of extreme weather – incorporating malaria prevention and testing into community-based primary health care services and building surveillance networks that feed community data into national health information systems, so that officials can address malaria outbreaks as soon as they crop up.
With sustained, coordinated action on climate change, the Philippines will stand as a model for the fight against malaria – and end the disease within its borders, once and for all.