The “catastrophic” freeze on US funding for malaria has halted prevention programmes across Africa and also threatens to stall advances in genomic research, says Jane Carlton, director of the Johns Hopkins Malaria Research Institute.
The US President’s Malaria Initiative (PMI) is one of numerous USAID-supported programmes to see its funding terminated under US President Donald Trump’s sweeping reforms this year.
From eco-friendly bacterial pellets that kill mosquito larvae, to gene-drive mosquitoes that suppress wild populations, scientists are developing an arsenal of promising new technologies to combat malaria.
“But without sustained funding, even the best tools stall”, says Carlton, warning that a retreat from funding could jeopardise decades of progress. SciDev.Net