Pandemics are global but their impact is personal. When I first contracted malaria as an infant, my mother was worried sick. We lived in Liberia where, as is still the case in many African countries, if you don’t know someone who died from malaria you know someone who suffered from it. I was lucky. I received treatment and survived. For too many other children and their families, this is not the case. Today, a child still dies every two minutes from the disease – one we know how to prevent and treat. This is one of the greatest crises of our generation.
I believe we are not defined by the crises we face, but by how we respond. A year ago, while caring for patients in rural Africa, I saw the relief on parents’ faces when their children also survived malaria thanks to funding from the U.S. President’s Malaria Initiative (PMI). PMI is one of the most effective and efficient development programs in history. PMI has invested $8 billion in hundreds of millions of mosquito-killing nets and sprays, life-saving malaria tests and medicines, and heroic health workers in clinics and communities. Together with our partners, PMI has helped save 7.6 million lives and prevent 1.5 billion infections.
This past year, COVID-19 led to an unprecedented crisis. But, I feel inspired by how PMI continues to respond. Malaria campaigns that spray homes with insecticides, provide people with mosquito nets, and distribute preventive medicines for children have been sustained. Health workers have been trained and equipped to provide these services safely.
While PMI and our partners have been resilient, progress against malaria is under threat. COVID-19 continues to strain health workers and clinics, disrupting access to malaria testing and treatment. New mutant parasites and mosquitoes are growing resistant to medicines and insecticides. Unpredictable rains due to climate change are creating new breeding grounds for malaria-carrying mosquitoes. And the funding gap to end malaria has widened. If we are to end malaria within our generation, we need bold action now. Too many people with malaria are out of reach of the medicines and tools we know save lives. We must reach the unreached.
Too many nurses, midwives, community health workers and others who deliver malaria services struggle without sufficient training, equipment, and fair pay. They are now risking their lives to serve during COVID-19. We must make health systems safer for them and better for the people they serve.
Too many countries are still far from their goal of eliminating malaria. We must leverage new data, technology and science. We must end malaria faster. Ending malaria matters. It matters because it builds health systems that keep us all safer, including networks of community health workers, clinics and labs that help us fight malaria while protecting us from emerging threats like COVID-19. But ending malaria also matters because it inspires hope. We are at a turning point. Losing this fight will create despair against future pandemics. But ending malaria, one of history’s deadliest pandemics, within our generation will inspire hope. And hope is worth fighting for.
Dr. Raj Panjabi, U.S. Global Malaria Coordinator