Gates Annual Letter Looks Forward 15 Years

Have you had a chance to check out the annual letter released by our partner, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation? It’s exciting for several reasons – particularly because it addresses malaria!

In the letter, they highlight several major breakthroughs they expect to see for global progress over the next 15 years. They predict unprecedented progress in global health, specifically cutting the number of children who die before age 5 in half:

“In 1990, one in ten children in the world died before age 5. Today, it’s one in 20. By 2030, that number will be one in 40.”

The reduction in childhood mortality is in part because of the amazing progress in the fight against malaria– the World Health Organization recently reported that between 2000 and 2013, malaria mortality rates among children under 5 have decreased by 53% globally and by 58% in Africa. That’s tremendous progress but there’s more work to do:

We won’t be able to completely eradicate malaria by 2030, but we will have all the tools we need to do so. These will include a vaccine that prevents people with malaria from spreading it to the mosquitoes that bite them, a single-dose cure that clears the parasite completely out of peoples’ bodies, and a diagnostic test that can reveal right away whether a person is infected. Early versions of all these tools are in development now. In 15 years, we’ll be poised to send malaria the way of smallpox and polio.”

These new tools are all key in the fight to defeat malaria in this generation. Nothing But Nets is contributing to all of these developments through our partnerships, granting and advocacy work.. We also know that the current best preventive measure is insecticide-treated bednets, which can protect the lives of children and families now. We have the opportunity now to join the United Nations and our partners around the world to protect vulnerable families from this deadly disease:

“In September, the United Nations will agree on a set of goals about what should be done for the poor over the next 15 years. The UN did this once before, in 2000, and it was one of the best ideas for development either of us has ever seen. It focused the world on key measures of how many people get the basics of a productive life: good health and a chance to get an education and make the most of economic opportunities. We hope the goals adopted this year continue that work.”

You can join Nothing But Nets in the fight against malaria. Now is the time to raise your voice and tell the UN that you support goals which address this and other deadly diseases. Sign up  to learn more about how Nothing But Nets and our UN partners are working to accelerate progress against malaria around the world.