Africa records 60% reduction in malaria mortality

The 2024 Africa Malaria Progress Report has revealed Africa recorded a 60 percent reduction in mortality since 2,000.

The continent also saw a 38 percent decline in malaria incidence, preventing 1.8 billion cases and saving 11.9 million lives over the past two decades.

The report was released at the Africa Union Summit as the African Leaders Malaria Alliance (ALMA) appointed Duma Boko, President of Botswana as the new president.

Boko who takes over from Umaro Embaló, Guinea Bissau’s President is tasked with demanding a big push to achieve malaria elimination including a successful Global Fund replenishment.

The Global Fund is the largest source of funding for malaria, providing 62 percent of all international financing for malaria programmes

Against the backdrop of the report, which reveals stagnating progress and mounting threats to malaria elimination across the continent, heads of state and government at the African Union Summit committed to mobilising domestic resources and scaling up integrated and innovative financing.

“Africa must urgently rise to the challenge by mobilising domestic resources, including drawing down on the resources in our emergency funds and increasing our health budget allocations. We must also scale up innovative financing including through End Malaria Councils and Funds, and leverage platforms like World Bank IDA and the Green Climate Fund to ensure that our national programmes are fully equipped to drive the malaria agenda forward,” said Boko.

As a new chair takes over the helm of ALMA, African leaders underscored the need for a unified and decisive response.

This call to action was supported by the launch of a new stage of the ‘Change the Story’ campaign, which amplifies children’s stories of how malaria has impacted their lives.

The campaign is backed by high-profile supporters including Zero Malaria Ambassador, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.

“We need to listen to children’s voices today as the decisions our leaders make will determine their futures tomorrow. Nigeria, where I was born, carries the greatest burden of malaria, so I know first-hand how this disease can stunt children’s educations, steal their livelihoods, and sometimes take their lives. This is why we urgently need to change the story of malaria. Leaders must turn the page and start a new, more hopeful chapter to save lives,” she said.

The report warns that malaria elimination in Africa is facing serious threats including insufficient resources, rapid population growth, climate change, biological resistance including insecticide and drug resistance, and the devastating impacts of humanitarian crises.

Together, these factors threaten to reverse decades of progress, making the fight against malaria harder.

Leaders underscored that lifting the continent out of this storm will require intensified resource mobilisation, including through innovative financing, domestic resource mobilisation, and rapid introduction and scale-up of new interventions and commodities.

“Malaria is a pathfinder for health systems strengthening, primary healthcare, and pandemic preparedness, and it exemplifies the pressing need to address the health impacts of climate change. This is why we must ensure sufficient resources to address malaria, HIV, and TB and strengthen health systems, especially in the upcoming Global Fund replenishment,” said Minata Cessouma, the commissioner for Health, Humanitarian Affairs, and Social Development at the African Union Commission.

The report further highlights the urgency of scaling up next-generation tools, including dual insecticide-treated nets, new insecticides, new malaria medicines, and malaria vaccines.