Washington, D.C., March 17, 2020 – Malaria No More strongly opposes the sweeping cuts to lifesaving, cost-effective global health programs in President Trump’s Fiscal Year (FY) 2021 budget request. For three years, the President’s annual request has significantly decreased U.S. funding to the two largest entities working to reduce deaths and illness from malaria: the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (the Global Fund) and the President’s Malaria Initiative (PMI).
The proposal would drastically hamper the Global Fund’s ability to provide life-saving commodities, by cutting $902 million from what Congress appropriated in a bipartisan manner last year. This significant budget cut would reduce the U.S. share of support to the Global Fund from the current 33%, to 25%, undermining America’s role as the global leader and largest contributor. The President’s Budget would also cut PMI’s funding from the FY2020 enacted level of $770 million to $705.5 million, thereby significantly reducing the impact of one of the U.S. Government’s most efficient and effective foreign assistance programs.
“Year over year, American taxpayer dollars are having tremendous impact in saving lives around the world from deadly diseases and helping prompt a shift in global efforts from controlling malaria to striving to eliminate it for good. This budget request undermines U.S. historic leadership in this effort,” said Josh Blumenfeld, Managing Director for Global Policy and Advocacy, Malaria No More. “Thanks to longstanding, bipartisan leadership, Congress recognizes the tremendous impact U.S. investments are having in driving down deaths and saving lives, while advancing America’s interests in the world. We will continue working with Congressional champions committed to ending malaria, especially among the most vulnerable – pregnant women and children under five in sub-Saharan Africa.”
As the largest support of the global fight against malaria, U.S. leadership has been a key driver in significantly reducing deaths from malaria – contributing to saving over 7 million lives and preventing more than 1 billion cases of malaria since 2000. Ensuring continued bipartisan leadership and investment in global health programs like the Global Fund and PMI is critical to the U.S. stated goals of ending preventable child and maternal deaths and extreme poverty.
In 2018, the Global Fund helped diagnose 220 million suspected malaria cases, treat 110 million malaria cases and distribute 131 million bed nets. The $1.56 billion appropriation request put forth by Congress for FY2021 is projected to ensure that nearly 9 million households will receive insecticide residual spraying to protect families against malaria and that approximately 83 million insecticide-treated mosquito nets, including new nets that are instrumental in combatting growing insecticide resistance, will be distributed to protect children and families from malaria.
With bipartisan Congressional support in FY2018, PMI efforts benefited at least 570 million people at risk of malaria—90 million more than in FY2017—and invested $723 million across 27 country programs. Efforts and support included the distribution of more than 60 million insecticide-treated mosquito nets, spraying over 5.7 million houses with insecticides, and the purchase and distribution of more than 104 million anti-malarial treatments and 109 million rapid diagnostic tests.
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For more information or interview requests, contact Taylor Prochnow at +1 206-605-4090 or Taylor.Prochnow@MalariaNoMore.org.
About Malaria No More
Malaria No More envisions a world where no one dies from a mosquito bite. More than a decade into our mission, our work has contributed to historic progress toward this goal. Now, we’re mobilizing the political commitment, funding, and innovation required to achieve what would be one of the greatest humanitarian accomplishments – ending malaria within our generation. For more information, visit www.malarianomore.org.
