Looking Ahead, Beyond World Malaria Day: Dangote Seeks Global Partnerships To Save Lives 

As the World Malaria Day was marked globally on April 25 2023, President of Dangote Group and United Nations’ Malaria Ambassador for Nigeria, Aliko Dangote, called for joint actions by all stakeholders globally if the collective goal of the disease elimination by 2030 is to be achieved.

Dangote in his World Malaria Day statement titled “With Urgent Investment, Innovation and Implementation, Zero Malaria Spread is Possible” urged that all stakeholders must work together to decimate malaria, which he said had brought untold human sufferings with the economic toll of the disease on global productivity. According to him, urgent investment, innovation and implementation by such stakeholders would help curtail malaria spread wherever the disease is found around the world.

In his words, “More than ever, we must collaborate to ensure that no child or person dies of malaria or loses another day to this debilitating illness again. We must also drive further progress towards malaria elimination in Nigeria and Africa at large. This is as we jointly seek to end malaria for good and encourage private sector leaders to implement malaria prevention and treatment programmes, in their companies, as we do across our businesses in the Dangote Group.”

Dangote disclosed that since the year 2000, global partnerships and investments in the fight against malaria have yielded positive results by preventing some 2 billion malaria cases, saving 11.7 million lives and putting eradication within reach. He, however lamented that 96 per cent of malaria deaths globally were found in 29 countries, with Nigeria sadly among the four countries which accounted for over half of all malaria deaths globally in 2021.

He said this year’s World Malaria Day (WMD), presented an opportunity to galvanise global efforts towards advocacy and sustained political will and investments that will be aimed at ending the scourge of the disease”. Dangote expressed his readiness to lead the way, pledging that “Aliko Dangote Foundation (ADF), will further strengthen its engagements with the various key stakeholders in Nigeria and globally, to support the efforts to address malaria in our workplaces, communities, and especially high burden areas to attain our collective goal of malaria elimination by 2030”.

The philanthropist noted that billions of dollars were pledged by donors at the historic Global Fund Replenishment meeting in Geneva, Switzerland in 2022, to boost the fight against HIV, TB and Malaria. He, however expressed regret that an unprecedented shortfall of more than 50% in global malaria funding, is now holding countries back from maintaining life-saving malaria programmes, despite the historic pledge.

Consequently, the Malaria Ambassador said the funding gaps have been contributing to declining progress in the countries with the highest burden of malaria. “Countries will not reap the rewards of these investments without further commitment to scale up and roll out these innovations where they are needed most”.

For Africa to move forward, he said the Continent has to get rid of malaria once and for all. Now, according to him, is “The time to take decisive action to deliver on our goal of zero malaria, spur overall development and achieve the 2030 targets”, he added.

Dangote urged that the theme of this year’s World Malaria Day: “Time to Deliver Zero Malaria: Invest, Innovate, Implement” highlighted the need for urgent action and further investments to ensure existing investments deliver maximum impact, in the fight to end malaria.

Dangote then acknowledged the positive efforts of the Nigerian National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), as the second national drug regulator to approve the use of the R21 vaccine, saying the fight against the malaria scourge, has been buoyed by the introduction of the new malaria vaccine -R21/Matrix-M, which was developed by the University of Oxford and will be manufactured by the Serum Institute of India.