September 18, 2025 (Washington, DC) – Malaria No More welcomes the release of the America First Global Health Strategy as a critical step toward rebuilding American foreign assistance capacity in line with U.S. strategic priorities and laying the groundwork for increasing endemic country ownership. 

We applaud the administration’s continued commitment to ambitious global malaria control and elimination goals: reducing malaria mortality and case incidence by 90 percent by 2030, eliminating malaria in at least 35 countries by 2030, and preventing re-establishment where malaria has already been defeated.  

We welcome the affirmation of support for essential life-saving malaria tools—diagnostics, treatments, bed nets, and vaccines—as well as for the health work force that makes progress possible. 

The plan calls for the U.S. to work with partner countries to strengthen global surveillance for emerging disease threats. It should leverage the existing work of the U.S. President’s Malaria Initiative (PMI), which has helped partner countries to build an extensive frontline fever testing and reporting capacity that reaches the very “hot spots” and “blind spots” where novel pathogens are likeliest to emerge.  

The strategy recommends other important changes that, if well executed, will ensure U.S. funding achieves the greatest possible health outcomes, including:   

• A focus on countries of greatest burden and highest strategic importance;
• Harnessing U.S.-led corporate and research innovations to tackle global health challenges; 
• An emphasis on stronger and more integrated supply chains, lab capacity, and data systems across disease verticals to deliver efficiencies;
• Prioritizing delivery through local partners including faith-based groups, private clinics and pharmacies, and community organizations.

Success will depend on execution. Building endemic country capacity to take on greater ownership will take time and require close collaboration with partner countries, which should be possible through the proposed compact model. It is not enough to plan for a handover; there must be realistic plans and sustained investment in the local systems and capacity to transition responsibly.

To that end, we urge the administration to work with Congress to secure robust funding for U.S. global health programs, including the President’s Malaria Initiative and the U.S. contributions to the Global Fund and Gavi, in the coming years and to work with endemic country governments to sustain and take on greater ownership of these programs.