Nearly a million people die of malaria every year. More than 90% of these deaths are in Africa and Asia, and nine tenths are children under five. This means that over 2000 children die of malaria every day.
The new initiative will save lives through making better medicines more widely available.
The Norwegian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Jonas Gahr Støre, said: “The age when the world had effective drugs against infectious diseases but let millions die each year because they couldn’t afford them is over.”
Norway’s Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Støre hosted the launch of the new international initiative to fight malaria on 17 April. Subsidised malaria medicines will save lives. Photo: Ministry of Foreign Affairs
The fight against poverty
The new initiative will mean much more than reduced child mortality. For Africa alone, costs related to malaria amount to USD 12 billion a year. The fight against malaria is also an important contribution to the efforts to boost economic development.
Mr Støre underlined that reducing maternal and child mortality is a priority area for the Norwegian Government. He added that the new initiative has three key elements: effective medicines, effective cooperation and effective financing.
Experts describe the initiative as a vital step forward tin the fight against malaria. Photo: the Norwegian Refugee Council/Astrid Sehl.
Broad collaboration
The USD 225 million initiative is a partnership between the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, the international drug purchase facility UNITAID, and the Roll Back Malaria partnership.
Norway is providing a total of USD 77 million via the Global Fund and UNITAID.
For more information about the initiative, visit The Global Fund website.