World Malaria Day is an opportunity to highlight the need for continued investment and sustained political commitment to the fight against malaria. In the past 20 years, 21 countries have eliminated malaria (10 of which have been certified malaria-free by the WHO), and in countries where the Global Fund invests, malaria deaths have fallen by 45%. However, following years of steady decline, the number of malaria cases is now on the rise again. The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the response to malaria. We are seeing funding stagnating and resistance to drugs and insecticides on the up, increasing the risk of malaria re-emerging and threatening hard-won gains.

The Global Fund's goal is to eliminate malaria in at least 35 countries by 2030. However, as the malaria parasite evolves and drug resistance increases, there is a need to develop new approaches and innovative tools.

Alongside the Global Fund and its partners at country level, Expertise France, through L’Initiative, is leading the way.

Malaria is a life-threatening disease caused by parasites that are transmitted to people through the bites of infected female Anopheles mosquitoes.  It is preventable and curable."

Over the 2018-2021 period, more than 20% of L’Initiative-supported projects and 17% of technical assistance assignments (TA) have had at least one malaria component, with a total committed value of 28.3 million Euros.

Of these, five projects and 19 TA assignments were exclusively focused on malaria, with a committed value of 6.3 million Euros.

Of the projects focused solely on malaria control, there was a fairly equal distribution between the Greater Sahel region, South-East Asia, the Gulf of Guinea and Central Africa. Projects were primarily implemented by research institutes (three out of five of the projects) and by local NGOs and government institutions.

Over the same period, more than a third of TA assignments were focused exclusively on malaria control, for a committed value of 2.41 million Euros (2018-2021). The geographic distribution is the same, with 32% of TA in the Greater Sahel, 21% in Central Africa, and 26% in the Gulf of Guinea. Technical assistance focused exclusively on malaria control was primarily provided to national programs (43%) and CCMs (37%).

At a more general level, 12 TA assignments focused on the response to the three pandemics (malaria, tuberculosis and HIV), 22 focused on Health Systems Strengthening (HSS) and had at least one malaria component. A total of 193 experts were engaged in TA assignments for a total of 4,511 days. This included 53 experts working on TA assignments focused exclusively on the fight against malaria : total of 1,843 days (cumulated).

Key figures

• In 2020, there were an estimated 241 million cases of malaria worldwide. Just over half of all malaria deaths worldwide were recorded in four African countries: Nigeria (31.9%), the Democratic Republic of the Congo (13.2%), the United Republic of Tanzania (4.1%) and Mozambique (3.8%).
• The WHO African Region bears a significant and disproportionate share of the global burden of malaria. In 2020, 95% of malaria cases and 96% of malaria-related deaths were recorded in this region. Children under five accounted for an estimated 80% of all malaria deaths in the region.
• In 2020, the WHO reported an estimated 241 million new malaria cases and 627,000 malaria-related deaths across 85 countries.

Sources : World Health Organisation