About AFM

Africa Fighting Malaria

Africa Fighting Malaria is a not-for-profit health advocacy group based in South Africa and in the United States and founded in 2000. We conduct research and write commentary on the political economy of diseases and disease control in developing countries. We monitor and report on the aid progams of groups, including the World Bank, USAID, UNICEF and WHO in journals and the wider media. Our directors and staff have testified before both Houses of Congress and in parliamentary fora in the UK and other nations.

We focus primarily on malaria but write about other public health problems as well, including HIV/AIDS and the problems associated with poverty and a lack of health systems.

Africa Fighting Malaria receives its funding from a number of different sources, however because of the nature of our work we have a policy of not accepting funds from any government, the insecticdes industry or the pharmaceutical industry.

In the past three years (since June 1st 2004) we have received funding from individuals and from the following organisations:
  • Anglo American Chairman's Fund
  • BHP Billiton plc
  • The Earhart Foundation
  • Hedge Funds vs. Malaria Initative
  • The Ohrstrom Foundation
  • The Thiel Foundation
  • Swordspoint Foundation

Should you wish to receive our annual report on our activities please contact us.

Malaria is a deadly parasitic disease spread by mosquitoes, which infects 400 to 500 million people per year. According to the UN's World Health Organization, it kills as many as 2.5 million people every year, most of which are children under the age of five.

To effectively fight this scourge disease, global public health services must be free to employ all available tools, including medicines, biological controls, and pesticides. According to tropical disease experts, one of the most effective tools for fighting malaria is the limited use of small amounts of the pesticide DDT inside buildings, in particular, homes and hospitals. Despite being banned in most industrialized countries, DDT is still commonly used to fight malaria in many parts of Africa, Asia, and South America, where its use saves millions of lives. AFM supports this targeted use of DDT and other insecticides along with other proven interventions, such as insecticide treated nets.