UNITAID

Malaria

ACTing urgently to save lives by scaling-up the best treatment and investing in prevention

Malaria is a potentially deadly disease that is transmitted through the bites of mosquitoes. Half of the world’s population is at risk of infection, and the World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that in 2006, there were nearly a quarter of a billion malaria infections, with nearly 900 000 deaths. The disease kills more than 2 000 children under five years of age per day – roughly one child every 30 seconds.

Although malaria is entirely curable in a matter of several days, the disease is often fatal without swift diagnosis and effective treatment. Control of malaria today relies primarily on early diagnosis and treatment with effective medicines. It also relies on preventing transmission, which is best accomplished through the use of long-lasting insecticide-treated nets (LLINs).

Widespread resistance in Africa and Asia to older malaria treatments, such as chloroquine, has contributed to the increase in mortality rates since the 1990s. The only truly effective treatment in areas where resistance to other drugs is pervasive is artemisinin-based combination therapy, or ACT. However, ACTs are not reaching nearly enough people to reverse the deadly toll the disease takes.

The relatively high cost of ACTs, compared to other, less-effective treatments, and long delays in bed net deliveries are two critical obstacles to controlling malaria effectively. In response, UNITAID, together with its partners UNICEF and the Global Fund to fight AIDS, TB and Malaria, has focused its efforts on:

Scaling up ACT treatment, while increasing the number of producers and products, reducing prices and supporting quality assurance; and
Accelerating the scale-up of bed net coverage by working to reduce delivery delays.