Who’s Funding the Fight Against Malaria?

Between 2010 and 2022, roughly two thirds of funding for malaria control and elimination was provided by international countries and donors while another third was provided by the governments of endemic countries. Data compiled by the World Health Organisation and presented in their World Malaria Report 2023 shows that the United States was the biggest donor, making up 36 percent of all funding donations. The next biggest donor countries were the United Kingdom (8 percent), France, (4 percent), Germany (3 percent) and Japan (3 percent).

There were an estimated 249 million malaria cases across 85 malaria endemic countries in 2022, up from 245 million in 2020. The main countries contributing to the increase in cases between 2021 and 2022 were Pakistan (+2.1 million), Ethiopia (+1.3 million), Nigeria (+1.3 million), Uganda (+597 000) and Papua New Guinea (+423 000).

According to the report, while 29 countries accounted for 96 percent of malaria deaths globally in 2022, just four countries - Nigeria (31 percent), the Democratic Republic of Congo (12 percent), Niger (6 percent) and the United Republic of Tanzania (4 percent) - accounted for almost half of all malaria deaths worldwide.

Between 2019 and 2020 there was an increase of some 55,000 malaria deaths worldwide, which is partly attributed to disruptions to services during the COVID-19 pandemic, such as with the handing out of insecticide-treated mosquito nets (ITNs), as well as in diagnosis and treatment. This was followed by a marginal decline in 2021 and 2022, to 610,000 and 608,000 deaths, respectively.