Accurate figures on the amount invested in global efforts to tackle malaria are difficult to obtain because funding that affects malaria control is often directed at a health system as a whole, rather than specifically at malaria. However, it is estimated that the financial resources committed to malaria by international donors have grown dramatically, increasing ten-fold in the last ten years. Already this injection of new resources has reduced malaria infection rates and child mortality in some areas. However, there still remain large gaps in the funds needed to tackle malaria if international targets are to be met.

There is an estimated global requirement of about US$ 3.2 billion a year to make sure malaria is eradicated by 2015 in line with the Millennium Development Goals. However, at present less than US$ 1 billion per year is available for malaria resources. 

 

 

• The Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (GFATM) was created in 2001 to finance a dramatic turnaround in the fight against these diseases. The majority of international funding for malaria control is now channelled through GFATM with a current allocation of US$ 1.8 billion or the next five years – some 27% of GFATM spending.
• The European Union (EU) funds malaria related activities through several routes including geographic funding (such as through special cooperation mechanisms with African, Caribbean and Pacific countries) and thematic budget lines on health, the Commission’s 7th Framework Research Programme (FP7). The Commission contributes to at least 7% of the GFATM's resources.
• The launch of the U.S. President's Malaria Initiative (PMI) in June 2005 is expected to contribute an additional US$ 240 million a year, while the World Bank's Booster Program for Malaria Control in Africa is to contribute US$ 500 million over three years.
• The new French-led UNITAID launched in 2006 and currently supported by the United Kingdom, Norway, Brazil and Chile, will use the air ticket solidarity tax and long-term budget commitments to provide bulk purchasing of drugs for poor countries. This will complement existing financing mechanisms such as GFATM and aims to lower the costs of drugs including for malaria, and improve their availability.