The World Health Organisation (WHO) and the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention have said Africa is facing a widening funding gap for malaria, threatening progress toward elimination across the continent.

They raised the concern during the Africa CDC World Malaria Day 2026 Webinar, on Monday.

The event’s theme was ”Advancing Africa’s Health Security and Sovereignty for Malaria Control and Elimination through PHC Transformation”.

The webinar was organised by the Africa CDC, UNICEF, WHO, and the RBM Partnership to End Malaria

The organisations noted that Africa bore 96 per cent of global malaria cases and 97 per cent of deaths, adding that in spite of major progress, the burden persisted and it was time to change the equation.

The webinar explored how PHC transformation could accelerate malaria control and elimination in Africa.

Discussion focused on malaria stagnation and resurgence drivers across Africa, Primary Health Care (PHC) systems as the platform for integrated community-based malaria action, genomic surveillance, vector control, and malaria vaccine rollout.

It also focused on sustainable financing, which aligns with the Africa Health Security and Sovereignty agenda.

They stressed that strong primary health care systems remained the backbone of malaria elimination across the continent.

Dorothy Achu, team leader for tropical and vector-borne diseases at the WHO regional office for Africa, said Africa remained the global epicentre of malaria in spite of years of intervention.

According to Ms Achu, the continent accounts for about 95 per cent of global malaria cases and 94 per cent of deaths, with an estimated 270 million cases and 580,000 deaths annually.

”About one billion people across 46 countries in Africa are exposed to malaria, with children under five accounting for 75 per cent of deaths,” she said.

She added that malaria in pregnancy remained a major concern, with about 13 million cases recorded annually.

She noted that while interventions since 2015 had helped avert about 170 million cases and one million deaths globally, progress in Africa had slowed due to funding constraints and emerging threats.

She identified key challenges to include weak health systems, low utilisation of preventive tools, climate change impacts and increasing biological threats such as drug and insecticide resistance.

”The malaria funding gap has widened significantly from 2.6 billion dollars in 2019 to 5.4 billion dollars in 2024,” she said.

In his presentation, Landry Tsaque, inaugural director, Africa CDC’s primary health care, said malaria elimination would depend largely on strengthening primary health care (PHC) systems.

Mr Tsaque presented the Africa CDC’s PHC Transformation Framework, which focused on workforce development, infrastructure, commodity security, financing and governance.

He said expanding community health workers and deploying digital surveillance systems would improve early detection and treatment at the grassroots.

Also speaking, a global health strategist, Adewale Akinjeji, described malaria financing as a high-return investment that remained critically underfunded.

According to Mr Akinjeji, about $9.3 billion is required annually for malaria control and elimination, but only $3.9 billion is currently available.

”This leaves a gap of over $5 billion, representing more than a 58 per cent shortfall,” he said.

He added that every one dollar invested in malaria control could yield up to $40 in economic returns, while the disease costs African economies over $12 billion annually in lost productivity.

He warned that heavy reliance on external donors, which accounted for about 56 per cent of malaria funding, posed a sustainability risk.

According to him, transitioning to domestic financing is critical, as an externally driven malaria response is not sustainable.

Similarly, Yenew Kebede, head of the Division of Laboratory Systems and acting head of Surveillance and Disease Intelligence at the Africa CDC, warned that emerging drug resistance could undermine current treatment efforts.

Mr Kebede said resistance in Plasmodium falciparum had historically forced changes in treatment policy and could do so again if not contained.

He noted that mutations linked to artemisinin resistance were first identified in Africa in 2014, but surveillance across the continent remained limited.

”To address this, the Africa CDC is supporting member states to strengthen molecular surveillance and build a continental database for early warning and coordinated response,” he said.

He added that recent findings had identified resistance-related mutations across several African countries, highlighting the urgency of scaling up genomic surveillance.

The experts emphasised that strengthening PHC systems, improving financing and enhancing surveillance would be critical to accelerating malaria elimination and improving health security across Africa.

They called on governments and partners to adopt coordinated and sustainable approaches to close funding gaps and fast-track malaria control efforts.

(NAN)