“To realise the real impact of investments in our fight against malaria, we must not only maintain current funding levels but actually increase them. If we don’t, then the achievements we have made in providing malaria protection will be short lived,” said Sunil Mehra, Executive Director of Malaria Consortium.

Mr Mehra was hosting a reception held at the United Nations to mark World Malaria Day on April 25 and highlight the state of global malaria. The event featured leaders in the world of public policy and malaria control including UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, HRH Princess Astrid of Belgium and Prof. Awa Coll-Seck, Executive Director of The Roll Back Malaria (RBM) Partnership among others. Malaria is a preventable and curable disease. Yet nearly 850,000 people each year, mainly pregnant women and children, die from it, and half of the world’s population are at risk of contracting the disease.

Fuelled by milestones set by the MDGs in 2000, there has been strong international funding and support for malaria prevention programs throughout 2009. A recent report by the World Health Organization confirmed that this effort has yielded significant successes. An estimated 384,000 children’s lives were saved in 12 countries through widespread distribution of mosquito nets, and other malaria prevention tools since 2000.

But RBM warned that we need to triple the $2 billion allocated for malaria at the end of 2009, to about $6 billion required annually to ensure universal coverage of malaria control interventions. History shows that malaria control efforts must be sustained to be effective. Sri Lanka is an example of a country where malaria roared back after nearly being eliminated in 1963. But those eradication efforts were not sustained and by 1990 there were a quarter of a million cases.

Fortunately malaria control was stepped up again and levels have dropped once more to just 673 cases reported in 2008. “This is just one of many examples where diminished intensity in malaria control efforts can lead to disastrous results in terms of human suffering and the loss of lives,” said Mikkel Vestergaard Frandsen, CEO of Vestergaard Frandsen, which is the leading producer of mosquito nets. “We’ve made such important progress toward controlling the spread of malaria these past few years. We can’t afford to let funding backslide and threaten this progress,” Mr. Vestergaard Frandsen added.

Some 250 guests attended the reception, which included a special viewing of the highly successful photographic exhibition Malaria: blood, sweat, and tears by photographer Adam Nadel. The exhibition was produced and conceived by Malaria Consortium, the world’s leading non-profit organization dedicated to comprehensive control of malaria, and photographer Adam Nadel. It was made possible with the generous support of Vestergaard Frandsen, a European-based company specializing in complex emergency response and disease-control products. It was produced under the umbrella of the Roll Back Malaria Partnership which is the global framework for coordinated action against malaria.