Breaking: UK Government steps back from leading the malaria fight

The pledge made today by the UK Government to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria represents a significant sum at a time of great need at home and abroad. However, for the first time in the Global Fund’s 20-year history, the UK has significantly reduced its financial commitment to an organisation which has saved 50 million lives since it began.

The Global Fund called for increased commitments from all donors, following setbacks in the progress against malaria, AIDS and tuberculosis due to the knock-on effect of the COVID-19 pandemic. While G7 allies such as the US and Germany stepped up to the challenge, the UK has decided to step back.

The funds raised this year will not be enough to ensure we get progress against three of humanity’s deadliest diseases – including malaria – back on track and will not be enough to save the 20 million lives the Global Fund was determined to fight for over the next three years.

Stepping away from its historic leadership role in the fight against malaria will have serious consequences for the fight against the deadliest pandemics confronting humanity.

The consequences of today’s decision will mean a more dangerous world for us all.

Malaria still takes the life of a child every minute and unfairly affects women and children, It not only kills and destroys the childhoods of those directly affected, but it weakens the ability of already vulnerable front line health systems to withstand new diseases when they appear, meaning new health threats can go undetected.

This decision will have major implications for British investment, trade and science. The UK has been at the forefront of developing the innovative tools needed to respond to emerging threats and accelerate the fight against malaria, something we couldn’t be prouder of. But without the programmes to deliver these new tools, like those supported by the Global Fund, British inventions will sit on shelves rather than reach the children and women whose lives could be saved.

Now more than ever we need British leadership on the global stage, standing firm with our allies to build a safer world. We urge the Government to re-join the US and other G7 allies at the top table in the battle to end malaria at the soonest possible opportunity. The world needs Britain back at its best.