Malaria’s season begins this month in a large part of the continent of Africa. There is no more deadly disease on the continent than malaria, especially for children. However, the decision of US President Donald Trump to cancel 90% of the Foreign Agency for the US Agency for International Development prompted local health officials to warn of a catastrophe in some of the poorest societies in the world.
Doctor Jimmy Opejo, who runs the Malaria control program in Uganda, told the Associated Press that the endowment orders issued by the US International Development Agency in late January made him and others “focus on preparing for the catastrophe.” It is noteworthy that the United States is the largest bilateral financier of malaria fighting efforts in Africa.
Opego added that the anti -malaria and mosquitoes treated with pesticides are to help control the disease transmitted by mosquitoes, “such as our groceries,” explaining that “there must be constant supply.”
With this supplies diminishing after America canceling the contracts, Obigo expects to rise in cases of acute malaria later this year, which includes problems such as members’ failure. There is no cure for these cases. The vaccines that are distributed in regions in Africa are not ideal, but it is expected to continue largely by supporting the global vaccine alliance.
The Washington -based Malaria No Malaria No. The new model shows that the malaria supply chains disorder for only a year will lead to the record of about 15 million additional injuries and 107,000 additional deaths globally. The organization urged the Trump administration to “resume life -saving programs before the disease outputs out of control.”
According to the World Health Organization, the continent of Africa, which has a population of 1.5 billion people, represented 95% of the deaths of malaria that were recorded around the world during the year 2023 and reached 597 thousand cases.
Nigeria, Congo and Uganda
Health workers in the three African countries most affected by Malaria – Nigeria, Congo and Uganda – described a series of repercussions at the end of most American government support.
The United States has provided hundreds of millions of dollars annually to the three countries only through the President’s initiative to combat malaria led by the US Agency for International Development.
American financing is often directed through a network of NGOs, medical charitable organizations and religious organizations in projects that made access to malaria prevention methods and their treatment is easier, and even for free, especially for rural societies.
During the year 2023, Uganda recorded about 12.6 million cases of malaria and about 16,000 deaths, most of whom are children under 5 years and pregnant women, according to the World Health Organization.
Opejo said the United States was providing between 30 million dollars and 35 million dollars annually to combat malaria.
Some funding for the American Agency for International Development in Uganda is devoted to mosquito spraying operations in remote areas. These operations were scheduled to start last February before the rainy season, when the stagnant water became fertile ground for large -scale animal mosquitoes. These operations have now been suspended.
As for Nigeria, a quarter of cases of malaria in the world were recorded. The authorities reduced the deaths in malaria by 55% since 2000 with the support of America and other countries.
According to the statistics of the American embassy, this support is part of $ 600 million health aid that Nigeria obtained from America during 2023 and it was not immediately clear whether all types of funding were stopped.
The American embassy said that the President’s initiative to combat malaria supported Nigeria’s efforts to combat malaria through about 164 million medicines, 83 million mosquitoes treatment with pesticides, more than 100 million fast diagnosis tests, 22 million preventive remedies during pregnancy and pesticides for about 121 thousand homes since 2011.
Regarding the Congo, US government financing has contributed about 650 million dollars to combat malaria since 2010.
The complexity of efforts
Now some successes in the field of malaria fighting in the Congo are being threatened, and this will complicate difficult efforts to monitor and track the outbreaks of the disease across the country, as supplies and experience will be affected to test malaria.
The intense conflict in the eastern Congo, where some health workers escaped the danger of infection in light of the diminishing support.
“Many people will be damaged. Some people are poor and cannot afford the cost of treatment from malaria,” said Nigerian doctor Yongy Ayu Owaallo, who runs the non -profit organization Market Duets, which provides local health care services at a reasonable price.
She explained that up to 40% of the organization’s services are diagnosed with malaria.
There is hope among health workers in Africa that even after the dismantling of the US Development Agency, some American funding will continue to flow through other organizations, including the International Fund for AIDS, TB and Malaria. But this organization also gets American support and has not issued a statement about the significant reduction of American aid.