Malaria

The Challenge

For millions of people around the world, a simple mosquito bite can have deadly consequences. A disease  eradicated in the United States in 1949, malaria still kills approximately 781,000 people every year -- mostly children, infants and pregnant women in sub-Saharan Africa. The disease not only takes its heaviest toll on the world's poorest people, who are unable to access even the most affordable treatment and prevention tools, it also perpetuates the cycle of poverty in the countries and communities most affected. Malaria prevents children from going to school, keeps farmers from the fields, and can deter tourism and investment in endemic countries. In total, malaria costs sub-Saharan Africa an estimated $12 billion every year as a result of lost economic productivity, foreign investment, tourism and trade.

The Opportunity

Malaria is an entirely preventable and treatable disease with affordable solutions. Bed nets to protect against malaria cost $10 and medicines to cure malaria cost roughly $6-10 per dose. Millions more people now have access to these tools thanks to an increase in resources to fight malaria, and as a result, certain countries are beginning to see dramatic improvements. Rwanda and Ethiopia, for example, were able to cut both cases and deaths from malaria in half within two years. Successes like these have led experts to conclude that if sufficient resources and political will are mobilized, ending deaths from malaria by 2015 is a completely viable goal.

Learn more, read the full Malaria Issue Brief...