Global access to key anti-malarial interventions has improved over the last year, but persistent gaps in coverage mean the burden of disease is still massive — at a time when funding to combat the parasitic disease has flatlined, according to the World Malaria Report.
Released today, the report finds that malaria control has improved for the most vulnerable in Africa, but inadequate funding and fragile health systems stand in the way of reaching global eradication targets. Authors warned against complacency and urged donors to continue prioritizing malaria interventions.
“The sense that the job has been completed and therefore we move on is a dangerous one,” Pedro Alonso, director of the Global Malaria Program at the World Health Organization, which is behind the annual report, in a conference call with reporters on Friday ahead of the launch of the report today. “The hardest is still to come.”