The World Can’t Abandon the Fight Against Malaria
Faulty bed nets have contributed to a worrying rise in infections. Governments should act to fix the problem — and work to eliminate the disease for good.
Don’t give up now.
Photographer: Abdulmonam Eassa/Getty Images EuropeOver the past two decades, the fight against malaria has been among the biggest success stories in global health. Campaigns to prevent and treat infections, particularly in Africa, have saved an estimated 11 million lives since 2000, the vast majority of them young children. Yet that progress has recently stalled — and in some countries, new cases are surging again. At least part of the blame lies with flaws in the most widely used tools for fighting the mosquito-borne disease: bed nets.
More than 3 billion insecticide-coated bed nets have been distributed worldwide in the past 20 years. At just $5 a net, they’re responsible for 68% of the reduction in malaria cases since 2000, according to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. One study found that sleeping under bed nets increased babies’ chances of survival in malaria-prone regions by 27%.