The Fight Against Malaria
CONGRESSMAN ADAM B. SCHIFF
OF CALIFORNIA
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Madam Speaker, I rise today to remind my colleagues that April 25th is World Malaria Day. On this day, global health advocates around the world will be raising awareness about malaria, and the fight against this deadly disease.
Malaria is an acute and often fatal disease transmitted to humans by mosquitoes. The World Health Organization estimates that annually, there are approximately 250 million cases of malaria and nearly 1 million deaths, primarily among children in Africa under five.
Malaria is highly preventable and treatable with existing tools, including insecticide-treated bed nets, indoor residual spraying of insecticides, and anti-malaria drugs. Through the President's Malaria Initiative, contributions to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB, and Malaria, and other investments, the United States has played a prominent role in the global effort to fight this deadly disease.
This effort is already showing impressive results, but ensuring that available anti-malaria tools reach all of the people who need them will require greater dedication of resources from the U.S. and our partners. Furthermore, drug and insecticide resistance mean that today's tools are likely to lose their efficacy over time. Therefore, it is critical to invest in research on new tools, including drugs, insecticides, diagnostics, and, eventually, a malaria vaccine.
The past several years have seen remarkable gains against malaria. Securing and expanding these gains will require continued U.S. leadership and investment.