The UK is a malaria science ‘superpower’ – and the world needs that

The fight to end malaria is facing a perfect storm of challenges.

A wave of cuts to global health budgets in 2025 has impacted both our ability to ensure lifesaving tools reach those who need them – and our ability to develop new ones. Mosquitos and the malaria parasite have continued to build resistance to certain malaria interventions which we’ve relied on for years.

Climate change is shifting the habitats for some malaria transmitting mosquitoes, making them harder to track, made worse by extreme weather events. And conflict, rising across the globe, is creating enormous upheaval to public health measures designed to protect against malaria.

All this comes off the back of six years of rising malaria cases since the Covid-19 pandemic to an all-time high of 282 million in 2024, as well as rising case "incidence" [the number of cases per 1,000 people at risk]. Similarly, we’ve seen the number of people dying from malaria rise to 610,000 in 2024 – the highest since 2020. The vast majority of people dying from the disease (95 per cent) are in sub-Saharan Africa and – utterly heartbreakingly – over 75 per cent are children under five.

While this paints a vivid picture of the scale of the challenge we face, we can and we must remain hopeful. Indeed, while progress has stalled in recent years, the decades preceding this saw historic progress in efforts to reduce and eliminate the disease. Between the years 2000 and 2019, for example, annual deaths from malaria dropped by more than 34 per cent. A healthy pipeline of tools distributed by well-funded global health bodies, working in close partnership with malaria-endemic countries, proved progress is possible.

What may surprise readers is the pivotal role the UK has played in fighting Malaria. Indeed, new research by Impact Global Health in partnership with Malaria No More UK, shows that, as of 2025, UK science institutions were behind one in every five malaria tools in the research and development (R&D) pipeline. That ranks the country as being the third biggest contributor in the world to malaria R&D tools such as vaccines, drugs and vector control products like bed-nets. Particularly high, is the UK’s contribution to malaria vaccines and drugs with involvement in nearly a third (31 per cent) of all vaccines in the pipeline (the second highest in the world) and nearly a quarter (23.2 per cent) of all drugs. What’s more, we’ve consistently been one of the biggest financial backers of malaria R&D for nearly two decades.

A number of factors make this possible. Essential, is working hand-in-hand with scientists in malaria-endemic countries, given the invaluable expertise of those on the frontline. The UK’s world-class universities, research institutes, and pharmaceutical and biotech companies also provide a vibrant network of expertise allowing innovation to flourish.

Years of bold commitments from consecutive British governments have helped foster stability and confidence in the malaria science ecosystem. What’s more, scientists are closer than ever to creating the "end game" tools which wouldn’t just reduce the spread or treat people who got infected with malaria – they would pave the way to wiping it out completely.

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Today, we stand at a crossroads. With malaria cases rising around the world and countries stepping back on aid commitments, we hope the UK government protects investment in malaria R&D. Specifically, we need the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office to maintain spending on malaria R&D within its "global research and technology development’ portfolio.

Without question, this would save the lives of children around the world and resist the looming threat of malaria. What’s more, it would contribute to positive ripple effects around the world including in the UK. For example, previous research from Malaria No More UK shows reducing malaria could see a boost of more than $80 billion (£66bn) in international trade including in the UK. We may also see health benefits too: Impact Global Health have shown how previous research into a malaria vaccine, for example, helped produce a vaccine for shingles, which is now widely used across high-income countries including the UK and is projected to prevent nearly 32 million cases globally by 2050.

Continuing to back British scientists and maintaining our reputation as a malaria science superpower is one of the best things this government can do to save lives around the world whilst bolstering the UK’s health security and economic stability. In the face of the perfect storm of malaria threats, we can and we must remain optimistic about our ability as a global health community to fight back.

Gareth Jenkins is managing director of Malaria No More UK

This article has been produced as part of The Independent’s Rethinking Global Aid project

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