About us

World-leading scientists tell us we can end malaria within a generation. At Zero Malaria Britain, our focus is always on the end game. Ending malaria will save millions of lives, unlock economic potential both here and abroad, and make us all safer from future pandemics.

The coronavirus pandemic has shown us that what happens around the world can have a devastating impact on the health of UK citizens. It has also demonstrated the importance of UK leadership in science and innovation. 77% of Brits want the UK government to invest in ending malaria - proving that we don’t just care about what happens on our doorstep, we want to see our nation deploy its scientific know-how to help alleviate the burden of this deadly disease around the globe.

The Global Fund was co-founded by the UK Government in order to help deploy the necessary tools, tests and treatments to help end malaria and save lives. By investing in the Global Fund to end malaria we will create a safer world for us all by being better prepared to fight any emerging health threats.

How to end malaria

Fighting back - how British science is leading the way in responding to emerging threats.

Malaria is too complex and dynamic a disease for any single tool to defeat it on its own. We know that innovation is essential to stay ahead of emerging threats, and we are proud that British-backed science is leading the way.

We approach ending malaria in four ways:

1. Creating better tools to reduce the number of mosquitoes and prevent them from biting people

2. Making high quality diagnostics accessible to all

3. Creating better treatments to help people fight off malaria

4. Creating the world’s first malaria vaccines to protect the most vulnerable

To win the fight, we need all of these cutting-edge tools and technologies, simultaneously. And we need to get these life-saving tools to the people that need them, quickly, and at scale. All of this is possible, but it requires renewed commitment and investment to get the job done.

Why Britain can help end malaria

Malaria is one of the oldest and deadliest diseases on the planet. It still kills a child every minute. UK-led research and innovation, backed by critical funding from the UK government, have contributed to tremendous progress in the fight against malaria – but emerging threats and stalling progress are putting children’s lives and global health security at risk. By supporting the malaria fight, Britain is supporting the livelihoods of families and communities around the world which helps to create a thriving global market, diversifying trade links and expanding supply chains helping to secure all our futures and building back better for Britain.

We know that the British public are great supporters of excellent science. Continued investment to fight malaria from the UK government is something that would be popular as a policy. It is the right thing to do, and it’s something that will be highly cost-effective in terms of its impact on humanity.

Professor Sir Adrian Hill, Director of the Jenner Institute and Lakshmi Mittal and Family Professor of Vaccinology. University of Oxford.

A call For Investment in the malaria fight

To ensure 2022 is the year that progress against malaria gets back on track, the UK government must maintain its investment in the fight, most notably through an early and ambitious pledge to the upcoming 7th Replenishment of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria so that we can continue to develop and deliver innovative new malaria interventions, making the world a safer place for us all. Since it began the Global Fund has invested billions into the malaria fight and saved millions of lives. A fully funded Global Fund will help deploy new malaria fighting tools developed here in the UK, get the world get back on track to end this deadly disease and protect us against future health threats. “To accelerate the fight against malaria. The main thing we need is a commitment to funding. And that includes the international donors and the British government, who have been excellent and one of the largest donors to the malaria campaign.” - Professor Azra Ghani, Infectious Disease Epidemiologist, Imperial College London.

We fight to End one of the world’s oldest and deadliest diseases

  1. Malaria kills over 1,700 people every day

    with children and pregnant women most vulnerable.

  2. British Science can save 2m lives

    Investment in British science and innovation to support the malaria fight will save lives

  3. Malaria costs Africa $117bn a year

    Malaria can cost the African economy as much as $117 billion in lost productivity every year

  4. 77% of Brits feel it is important that the UK continues to invest in preventing malaria

  5. Over 10m lives have been saved since 2000

    Global efforts to help end malaria have saved over 10 million lives since 2000 .

Death By Sugar

Attractive Targeted Sugar Bait (ATSB®) is a new device developed by biotech company Westham, that is attached to the outside of buildings. It lures the malaria-carrying mosquitoes to their death by appealing to their natural sugar feeding behaviour and then covering the sugar meal with poison.

Genetically modifying the world’s deadliest creature to wipe it out

Researchers from Imperial College London and Polo GGB, working with partners in West Africa, have successfully suppressed populations of malaria-carrying mosquitoes by using a special type of genetic modification known as gene drives to make female mosquitoes infertile, effectively wiping out the entire population.

Beating insecticide-resistant mosquitoes with a new class of chemistry and next-generation nets

Long-lasting insecticide-treated nets have been the backbone of malaria prevention for decades, helping to prevent 68% of malaria cases in Africa between 2000 and 2015. The Interceptor® G2 is a second-generation insecticide-treated net developed by BASF with support from IVCC, specifically in response to studies showing increases in insecticide-resistant mosquitoes.

A revolutionary new treatment that will save lives

Working in partnership with MMV, GSK have developed a drug known as tafenoquine (Kozenis®/Krintafel®), It is the first-ever antimalarial treatment to be delivered as a single dose for the prevention of relapse of P.vivax malaria, which looks set to combat the challenges posed by previous medicines and improve the process for patients.

Getting testing to the most vulnerable

New, intelligent diagnostics which integrate with health systems management and detect parasites evading conventional tests are essential both now and in the future. A team at Imperial College London is addressing all these needs at once, developing a smart molecular diagnostics device that brings the lab directly to the patient.

After decades of development: A vaccine

Since the 1940s over 100 potential malaria vaccines have made it to human trials, but now two vaccines are breaking boundaries and progressing further than any before them – both are developed by UK organisations.