Renewed action and boosted funding to fight malaria could prevent 350 million cases of the disease in the next five years. Seeking to reignite efforts to wipe out the deadly mosquito-borne disease, philanthropists, business leaders and ministers from donor and malaria-affected countries pledged £2.7 billion ($3.8 billion, Sh381 billion) to drive research and innovation and improve access to malaria prevention and treatments. While enormous progress has been made over the past 20 years in reducing malaria cases and deaths, in 2016, for the first time in a decade, the number of malaria cases was on the rise and in some areas there was a resurgence, according to the World Health Organization. The malaria summit was designed to coincide with a Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in London this week. Pharmaceutical firms GSK and Novartis also increased investment into malaria research and development - of 175 million pounds ($250 million) and $100 million dollars respectively.

Source: The Star April 18, 2018 06:00 UTC