Malaria is the cause area where GiveWell has directed the most funding over our 18-year history. We’ve recommended over $1 billion to malaria programs, which we estimate will avert over 200,000 deaths, mostly in young children, through support for programs like Against Malaria Foundation’s insecticide-treated nets and Malaria Consortium’s seasonal malaria chemoprevention.
Despite significant progress against malaria in the past 25 years, malaria is still a leading cause of death globally for children under five. The current status of malaria prevention—and all the progress that’s been made—is now in a precarious position. Significant reductions in funding from key donors like the US President’s Malaria Initiative and the Global Fund are anticipated and threaten to create substantial new gaps in life-saving malaria programs.
In this episode, GiveWell CEO and co-founder Elie Hassenfeld speaks with Program Officer Alex Bowles and Senior Researcher Rosie Bettle about the impacts these funding cuts could have. They offer a timely look at the uncertainty of the funding landscape, the life-saving malaria programs that are most at risk, and how GiveWell is leveraging its expertise to respond to emerging needs.
Elie, Alex, and Rosie discuss:
- The impact of foreign aid funding cuts: Significant funding cuts for malaria are expected, potentially in the range of 20% to 30%. This has prompted the Global Fund to instruct recipient countries to prepare for cuts across its malaria programs, forcing countries to reorganize entire malaria campaigns in just two months—a process that normally takes a full year.
- Program prioritization decisions: Countries are facing difficult choices as a result of reduced funding and will have to cut some programs. Highly cost-effective malaria prevention programs are at a high risk of being deprioritized to ensure malaria treatment remains available for people who are already sick. This is concerning because these prevention tools, such as insecticide-treated net campaigns and seasonal malaria chemoprevention, have been a major driver in reducing malaria deaths.
- How we’re responding: GiveWell is working to identify and fund emerging needs created by the funding shortfalls. This includes an emergency grant to procure three million rapid diagnostic tests for Nigeria and cover a last-minute gap in supplies. We’re also investigating funding for the delivery costs of mosquito nets—costs previously covered by large donors like the Global Fund—to ensure that already-purchased nets reach the people who need them.
GiveWell has a long history of finding and funding highly cost-effective malaria programs. We’re working closely with our partners to understand the complexities of this new funding landscape, prepare for emerging cost-effective needs, and direct funding where our research shows it can have the greatest impact.
Visit our Foreign Aid Funding Cuts webpage to learn more about our response and how you can help, and listen or subscribe to our podcast for the latest updates.
This episode was recorded on July 16, 2025 and represents our best understanding at that time.
