Malaria fight is stalling over money, report says
A new report by the World Health Organization announced that malaria deaths have decreased by more than 20 percent. In this photo a Congolese woman and her child — sick with malaria — speak with a doctor with Doctors Without Borders (Medecins Sans Frontieres) at a refugee camp in Makpandu, outside of the town of Yambio in South Sudan on Jan. 14, 2011.
A new report says that the global fight against Malaria is stalling over money.
While there has been a lot of progress against malaria over the last decade, funding is now a critical issue, according to the World Health Organization’s annual report.
The WHO said "after a rapid expansion of malaria prevention and control programs between 2004 and 2009, global funding to fight malaria leveled off between 2010 and 2012."
More from GlobalPost: Q&A with PATH: An update on malaria
Across the board, countries worldwide spent $1.8 billion last year to fight the deadly disease versus only $100 million in 2000, The New York Times reported.
But the World Health Organization estimates $5 billion a year is necessary for drug treatments, insect nets, "insecticide spraying and diagnostic kits."
According to the Times, nets wear out in three years and without them chidren and babies will run the risk of getting malaria in some countries.
WHO said 80 percent of deaths from malaria come from 14 endemic countries. The Democratic Republic of the Congo, Nigeria and India are among those most affected.
More from GlobalPost: Malaria deaths decrease worldwide
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