Caroline Spelman MP, a Parliamentary Ambassador for the UK charity Malaria No More, has welcomed the Chancellors commitment of £2.5 billion over the next five years to accelerate the fight against Malaria.
In recent days, the chancellor announced the creation of a new £1 billion Ross Fund – named after Sir Ronald Ross, the first ever British Nobel Laureate who was recognised for his discovery that mosquitoes transmit malaria – which will be used to support the global fight against malaria and other infectious diseases.
In addition to the Chancellors commitment Caroline further hailed an announcement by The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation who committed to join forces with the UK Government to combat the disease.
The Government’s £1 billion pledge will include a £300 million package focused on malaria and other infectious diseases. This will include:
· a £90 million eradication of malaria implementation fund
· £100 million support for research and development into products for infectious diseases
· £115 million to develop new drugs, diagnostics and insecticides for malaria, TB and other infectious disease resistance
It will also fund work to target diseases with epidemic potential, neglected tropical diseases, and diseases with emerging resistance.
Commenting on the project Caroline said: ‘This commitment is a major step forward in the fight against Malaria and I delighted that both the Government and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation have joined together to tackle this disease. In recent years progress has been made to stop the spread of malaria and the number of deaths have fallen by a third since 2010. However, there is still more to do'.
'In 2013 there were still over 198 million cases of Malaria – almost the population of Brazil. Even today, over half of the world’s population is at risk from Malaria, and each year roughly 580,000 people who contract the disease die – the majority of whom are under 5 years old’.
‘Nevertheless, I am confident that through of this unique partnership, we can accelerate the fight against malaria and look to significantly reduce cases and deaths in line with our aim of 40% in the next five years’.