A crisis in malaria treatment is coming — we must act faster to contain it

For malaria treatment, drug resistance is an evolutionary certainty. The question we face is not if resistance will emerge, but when it will become clinically significant. That’s why we must act now, and not wait until our current therapies fail.

Malaria remains one of the deadliest threats to young children worldwide. For two decades, artemisinin-based combination therapies, or ACTs, have been the world’s most powerful weapon against this threat, and during this time, deaths and suffering have decreased. But now malaria is rebounding.

The reasons include crises and conflict, fragile health systems, climate change and insufficient funding. On top of that, in parts of Africa, we’re seeing the warning signs of future drug failure — and the global response is not fast enough.