Important new research from The Malaria Atlas Project (MAP), recently published in The Lancet, highlights the capacity of global aid to avert malaria cases and save lives – but only if current funding levels are maintained. The research, co-led by MAP’s Head of Model Development and Curtin Senior Research Fellow Dr Tasmin Symons and John Curtin Distinguished Professor Peter Gething, both from the Curtin School of Population Health and the Kids Research Institute Australia, demonstrates the key role played by the US President’s Malaria Initiative (PMI) in tackling malaria, finding more than 13 million cases could be averted and more than 100,000 lives saved this year alone if current investment in PMI was maintained at full strength.

Malaria is one of the world’s leading causes of disease and child deaths. Sub-Saharan Africa carries the majority of the global malaria burden, with 95 per cent of malaria cases and deaths occurring in this region.

Using high-resolution geospatial models, the team estimated that PMI-supported interventions – including insecticide-treated bed nets, antimalarial treatments and indoor insecticide spraying – could prevent 13.6 million malaria cases and 104,000 deaths across 27 African countries in 2025.

The Malaria Atlas Project, based at The Kids Research Institute Australia and Curtin University, uses innovative data and analytics to collaborate globally in the fight against malaria, providing valuable information to governments, global organisations and local health authorities in areas impacted by the disease.

Congratulations to Dr Symons, Professor Gething on the recent publication in The Lancet and everyone involved in this important research. Read the full paper here.