US Aid Cuts Trigger ’Perfect Storm’ for Malaria Resurgence in Africa

By Staff, Agencies

As the rainy season approaches in western Kenya, residents usually prepare by spraying their homes with insecticide to fend off malaria-carrying mosquitoes. This year, however, families in Busia and Migori counties will have no such protection.

The Indoor Residual Spraying [IRS] campaign, critical for malaria prevention, has been canceled after the United States pulled essential funding that supported Amref Health Africa, the charity responsible for the program.

The communities in western Kenya — among the hardest hit by malaria — are now among millions impacted by President Donald Trump's decision to impose a broad freeze on foreign aid earlier this year.

"The IRS is classified as a high-impact intervention in malaria prevention, but we couldn't go ahead with it," said George Githuka, program director for disease control and prevention management at Amref Health Africa. "The decision from the US government not only stopped the IRS rollout in Busia and Migori but also disrupted other malaria programs."

Across Africa, from Kenya to Mozambique, malaria initiatives have been stalled, delayed, or canceled due to the funding cuts. Experts warn these disruptions could undo years of progress and spark a surge in malaria cases across the continent and beyond.

"History has shown us what happens if we let down our guard against malaria," said Daniel Ngamije, director of the World Health Organization's [WHO] Global Malaria Program.
In 1969, the abandonment of global eradication efforts led to a resurgence of the disease, requiring nearly three decades to regain lost momentum.

Malaria, transmitted by female mosquitoes, kills nearly 600,000 people annually — with 95% of deaths occurring in Africa, most among children under five. Four African countries — Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Niger, and Tanzania — account for over half of all global malaria deaths.

While 44 countries have been declared malaria-free by WHO since 1955, transmission persists in 83 nations. In 2023, global malaria cases climbed to an estimated 263 million, up from 252 million the previous year.

Today, tools like insecticide spraying, bed nets, antimalarial drugs, and two newly introduced vaccines offer hope. Since 2000, an estimated 2.2 billion malaria cases and 12.7 million deaths have been averted globally.

However, WHO warns that climate change, conflict, population displacement, and growing drug and insecticide resistance — now compounded by US aid cuts — threaten to reverse these gains.

Between 2010 and 2023, the United States provided nearly 40% of the world's funding for malaria prevention, treatment, and research. While some funding has been partially restored since Trump’s initial freeze in January, experts say the damage has been done.

In Mozambique, Maria Rodrigues, country director for the Malaria Consortium, described the cancellation of a vital five-year malaria surveillance program.

"We've had to dismiss highly skilled technical staff who trained government health workers," Rodrigues said. "Without data, we can't control anything."

WHO assessments reveal that malaria programs were among the worst affected: over 40% of insecticide-treated net distribution campaigns and nearly 30% of seasonal malaria chemoprevention campaigns have been delayed or are at risk. Stocks of diagnostic tests and medicines are also running critically low across many African countries.

Health experts point to the disruption of malaria programs during the COVID-19 pandemic as a warning, when malaria cases spiked by an estimated 14 million and an additional 47,000 deaths were recorded.

"Even before these funding cuts, the gains were very fragile," said Scott Filler, head of Malaria at The Global Fund, which has received over $26 billion in US funding since 2002 to combat malaria, tuberculosis, and HIV.

"We are now facing a perfect storm," he warned.

"Resistance to insecticides and medication, extreme weather linked to climate change, and now funding shortages — if we don't step up, we risk a devastating resurgence of malaria."