Tackling diseases in developing countries
The fight against malaria
Every year up to 216 million people contract malaria and at least 665,000 die from it. Over 90 per cent of all malaria deaths occur in Africa where it remains a leading cause of childhood mortality. The human cost is enormous, as is the economic cost – malaria consumes around 40 per cent of all public health expenditure in endemic countries.
We are playing a significant role to improve the health of communities affected by malaria in three ways:
- researching new malaria medicines, treatments and vaccines
- pricing our anti-malarials in the least developed countries and sub-Saharan Africa affordably
- investing in community activities funded by the GSK African Malaria Partnership
We are on the cusp of creating the world’s first malaria vaccine and have pledged that price will not be a barrier to those that could benefit most from it. If approved and recommended for use, the eventual price of the vaccine will cover costs and generate a small return of around 5% that will be ploughed back into research for the next generation of malaria medicines and vaccines.
Our fight against malaria - find out more
Partnership
No one organisation has the ability to defeat malaria on its own. That’s why we are working in partnership with other organisations to develop new tools whilst increasing the use of existing methods like bed nets and indoor spraying of insecticides.
The African Malaria Partnership (AMP) seeks to improve the prevention and treatment of malaria in sub-Saharan Africa. Since 2001 we have committed over £3 million to initiatives that help combat the disease.
Since then the partnership has mobilised three phases for community support across African countries. The first phase involves behaviour change.
