“No big deal. I’ve had malaria five or six times already,” my Ugandan colleague said as I set up her IV fluid bag.
As luck would have it, she was an adult who had contracted malaria while living at a hospital. Some are not so lucky.
Children under 5 in sub-Saharan Africa are more than 15 times more likely to die than they are here. Simple, affordable interventions, like providing adequate nutrition and antimalarial medications, could save more than half of these children from dying. The cost of these interventions, for each of us over a year, would be less than a fast food meal.
There’s even proof that it works. Under 5 mortality was more than halved since 1990. The Global Fund Partnership alone has saved 32 million lives through programs implemented by local country coordinating mechanisms. These are national committees, independent of the government, representing all sectors involved in disease response.
The committee submits grant applications to the Global Fund based on dialogues about experiences on the ground and what they know from assessing existing needs and interventions. If the funding is granted, it supports programs made possible and monitored by the Global Fund’s Local Fund Agents, who ensure that the programs are transparent and accountable. More than 130 million mosquito nets were delivered last year.
America has long played a leading role in this important work since the fund began in 2000. The Global Fund partners governments, civil society, technical agencies, the private sector and people affected by these diseases – people living with and representing people living with HIV, TB and/or malaria. Nearly 19 million people were on antiretroviral therapy in 2018 and 5.3 million people were treated for TB.
New developments in the prevention and treatment of these diseases will make donor funds go even further in 2019. Other major donor countries have already been making pledges and increasing the amounts from their prior commitments. If the U.S. is serious about eradicating these diseases, we must do the same.
I call on our congressional delegation, particularly Sen. Mitt Romney, to lead support for full replenishment of the Global Fund. Because, for a child with malaria, making it to her first day of kindergarten is a big deal.
Naresh Kumar
Naresh Kumar is a public health professional who spent a year directing a clinical education program in southwest Uganda. He lives in Salt Lake City and manages an antibiotic stewardship project. In his spare time, he is a volunteer advocate for ending extreme poverty and preventable diseases.