Fighting Malaria Together Newsletter - August 2011

Against all odds, a good year for funding for the US President’s Malaria Initiative

By Aaron Emmel, Government Affairs Officer, PATH

Despite an economic slowdown and a pared down foreign affairs budget, United States Congressional funding for malaria control increases again.

This year, the United States Congress negotiations over the fiscal year (FY) 2011 budget have stretched on even though the year is already halfway over. Yet in the face of these challenges, the House Appropriations Committee agreed to increase the amount allocated for malaria funding to US$618.7 million—up US$33.7 million from the previous year. This is the result of strong support from President Obama as well as bipartisan support for malaria in Congress; it also undoubtedly is related to the major successes in malaria control that Africa has witnessed over the past decade, and the recognition that continued US commitment will be required to sustain and build on them. For its part, the success and metrics of the President’s Malaria Initiative in contributing to these achievements has reconfirmed that malaria is a remarkable global health investment.

The US House Appropriations Committee is currently considering a bill that would cut global health funding overall for next year and not include a specific amount for malaria. Normally, Congress uses the annual budget to tell the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) how much money to spend on the President’s Malaria Initiative and other health priorities. Now Congress seems to be saying that the shrinking budget means there will need to be tradeoffs, and it would rather pass on that difficult task to USAID than tackle it itself. The Senate hasn’t announced its numbers yet, but they are also unlikely to be as high as 2011’s. (The final budget, if Congress is able to pass one this year, will have to be negotiated between the House and the Senate’s different bills.)

Fortunately, malaria remains a priority of both the Administration and Congress. The question remains how that will translate into real funding commitments at a time when every foreign assistance program is under pressure. This underscores the importance of careful documentation of the results of malaria control program efforts.