Gates Foundation Calls for Strengthened Global Commitment to Fight Malaria

LONDON -- At the WHO/UNICEF Africa Malaria Day observance in London today, Regina Rabinovich, MD, MPH, director of the Infectious Diseases program at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, made the following statement: 

Although malaria kills 1.1 million people every year, most of them children, the world has yet to commit the resources needed to control this preventable and treatable disease. Today is Africa Malaria Day, but malaria is a global problem, and the responsibility for stopping it extends to the entire international community. 

The Africa Malaria Report released today by WHO and UNICEF sheds new light on the urgent need to step up the fight against malaria. In the worst-affected regions, child malaria deaths are on the rise, and the most widely used treatment, chloroquine, is no longer effective in most of Africa. These disturbing trends point to the need to expand the use of available interventions and develop new technologies, including a vaccine, to fight the disease.

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is committed to working with WHO, UNICEF, and other organizations to expand malaria prevention, treatment, and targeted development of needed drugs and vaccines.