Preparing to Stop Drug-Resistant Malaria
By David Reddy, CEO, Medicines for Malaria Venture and Jürgen Brokatzky-Geiger, Global Head of Corporate Responsibility, Novartis
Read the full story on Business Fights Poverty
No child should ever die from a mosquito bite. Yet, today, in an era of extraordinary medical advancement, a child dies of mosquito-borne malaria every two minutes. Last year, this agonizing blood disease caused by the malaria parasite claimed nearly half a million lives—most of them children.
Still, there’s unprecedented cause for optimism. After 15 years of coordinated efforts to fight malaria, we’re seeing progress: Malaria deaths have declined 60 percent since 2000, meaning more than six million lives have been saved. During that same period, an analysis by the Roll Back Malaria initiative shows that 57 countries have reduced malaria cases by 75 percent or more.
While we need to sustain the investments that created these essential gains, we also need to look out for future threats that could expand malaria or undermine treatment. Right now, this means finding a solution to the looming risk of drug resistance. [...]
