Open letter urges government to renew financial commitment to tackling malaria
The malaria community urge the government to renew its financial commitment to tackling malaria - Letter to the Editor of The Times, signed by 20 scientists, business and malaria champions.
The letter was printed as follows...
Sir, The pandemic is not the first threat to humanity and will not be the last. To date, malaria has killed billions of children, men and women across the world. Britain has played a vital role, financially and through scientific innovation and creativity, in fighting malaria, to the extent that cases and deaths are down to the lowest they have ever been.
As a result, we are collectively safer and health services have more time to deal with other emergencies. But unless malaria is totally extinguished there could be a resurgence. The Covid-19 pandemic is disrupting diagnosis and treatment, putting progress on malaria at risk.
As the chancellor reviews state spending, we urge the government to renew its financial commitment to tackling malaria.
It is a disease we can end within a generation, and Britain must continue to lead the way.
Signed by a coalition of malaria scientists, survivors and champions
James Whiting, CEO, Malaria No More UK
Sir Brian Greenwood, CBE, Professor of Clinical Tropical Medicine, The London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine
The Rt Hon Sir Stephen O'Brien, KBE, Chair, The Innovative Vector Control Consortium
Dr Nick Hamon, CEO, The Innovative Vector Control Consortium
Professor Sir Richard Feachem KBE, Director of the Global Health Group at the University of California San Francisco and Co-Chair of the Lancet Commission on Malaria Eradication
Professor Kevin Marsh, Professor of Tropical Medicine at the University of Oxford and Senior Advisor at the African Academy of Sciences
Professor Sir Nicholas White, Professor of Tropical Medicine, University of Oxford
Professor Azra Ghani, Chair of Infectious Disease Epidemiology, Imperial College London
Charlie Webster, Broadcaster and malaria survivor
Anyika Onuora, Olympic athlete and malaria survivor
Ross Plummer, Managing Director Europe, Ridley Scott Creative Group
Euan Jarvie, CEO Dentsu, UK & Ireland
Victor Riparbelli, Co-founder & CEO, Synthesia
Tim Warrillow, Co-Founder and CEO, Fever-Tree
Fiona Smith-Laittan, Vice President of Global Health, GSK
Professor Jake Baum, Co-Director of the Institute of Infections, Imperial College London
Dr Aubrey Cunnington, Reader in Paediatric Infectious Diseases, Imperial College London
Professor Colin Sutherland, Professor Parasitology, Co-Director, Malaria Centre, The London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine
Professor Sian Clarke, Professor Epidemiology and global health, Co-Director, Malaria Centre, The London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine
You can read the letter on the Times here [Paywall].