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What Impact Has the COVID-19 Pandemic Had on the Fight Against Malaria?
Series | COVID-19 and other pandemics
Authors: Rosauro Varo, Quique Bassat (ISGlobal)* [ This document forms part of a series of discussion notes addressing fundamental questions about global health. Its purpose is to transfer scientific knowledge into the public conversation and the decisionmaking process. These documents are based on the best information available and may be updated as new information comes to light. ]
Malaria is the leading parasitic infection worldwide, and one of the most important global causes of disease and death. Plasmodium parasites have infected humans for millennia with devastating effects, making malaria one of the ancient scourges of humankind. Today, malaria still causes approximately 241 million clinical episodes, between two and four million cases of severe disease and an estimated 627,000 deaths,1 particularly in Africa among children under 5 years of age. Therefore, despite different initiatives to control this disease, it still vents its rage on most vulnerable populations, contributing to perpetuating social disparities and global health inequity.
7 October 2022
In such a long history, the first global attempt to eradicate malaria started
in the 1950s. The international community succeeded in eliminating malaria from many countries and areas of the world, but never managed to interrupt transmission globally, and was followed by the recognition that malaria could not be eradicated with the existing tools. In fact, the deflation of global efforts, funding shortages, and the increasing resistance to drugs and insecticides used against malaria led, in the period 19702000, to a dramatic increase in cases and deaths and to devastating epidemics in countries that were approaching elimination. The Research and development (R&D) attempts leading to new and more effective drugs and, importantly, the massive upscale of such better control strategies and prevention tools2 led to significant reductions in
Photo: Ghana Arne Hoel_The World Bank * Rosauro Varo is a Medical Research Fellow at ISGlobal. Quique Bassat is an ICREA Research Professor and Head of the Malaria Programme at ISGlobal. With the collaboration of Clara Marín, the coordinator of the Policy Department at ISGlobal, Regina Rabinovich, Director of the Malaria Elimination Initiative at ISGlobal, Matiana González, Coordinator of the Malaria Elimination Initiative at ISGlobal, and Gonzalo Fanjul, Policy Director at ISGlobal. 1
WHO. (2021), ‘World Health Organization: World malaria report 2021’.
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Resulting from the significant injection of new international available funding following the creation of the Global Fund and the US President’s Malaria Initiative (PMI) in the early 2000s.
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