Red alert: Malaria risks to the Indo-Pacific following US aid funding cuts

US cuts to aid funding put Indo-Pacific at risk of malaria resurgence: Pacific Friends of Global Health Ahead of World Malaria Day on 25 April, Pacific Friends of Global Health and the Australian Global Health Alliance are raising the alarm over the potential for a resurgence of malaria throughout the Indo-Pacific region as a result of the US government’s decision to cut around 90% of funding for global public health programs. A new report, Red Alert: Malaria risks to the Indo-Pacific following US aid funding cuts, outlines the success of US and Australian investment in programs to tackle malaria throughout the Indo-Pacific since 2002.

This investment has seen incidence rates across the region fall from 18 per 1000 people in 2000 to less than 5 per 1000 people in 2020, and has brought elimination within reach for several countries, including Timor-Leste and the Philippines. The sudden withdrawal of US funding for malaria control threatens to reverse this progress, and could lead to cases of the disease surging throughout the region, Pacific Friends of Global Health warns.