The Global Fund has a prominent place in the world’s fight against malaria in developing countries. Fighting malaria is one of the most important challenges facing the world, killing 3000 children a day. The Global Fund’s work on malaria includes funding 109 million bednets and 264 million artemisinin-based combination drug treatments for malaria resistant to other treatments.

Bednets are an effective, cheap way of cutting down on malaria cases. They are particularly good because they are easy to use. Modern insecticide bednets do not need their insecticide topping up and last for four to five years.

In 2003, these Long Lasting Incecticidal Nets (LLINs) started to be made in Africa (Tanzania), rather than just in Asia where they were invented. According to UNICEF: “Ordinary nets need to be treated with insecticides at least once a year to remain effective... In comparison, the long-lasting nets retain their effectiveness for at least four years, thanks to a technology that embeds the insecticide within the net's very fibres.”

Indoor residual spraying with DDT, which kills mosquitos, also has a role to play in Africa, but it is worth noting that a study conducted in India by three academics at the London School of Economics suggests that spraying is significantly less cost-effective at saving lives. Similarly, a study by Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok conducted in Thailand says that nets offer better value for money. It is also worth noting that in some countries, DDT use is becoming less worthwhile as mosquitoes become immune - including in pockets of Africa.

The Global Fund’s support for artemisinin-based combination drug treatments is also important. On 25 April it will be Africa Malaria Day which will highlight the need to provide universal access to artemisinin-based combination therapies (ACTs). According to Medicens Sans Frontiers, artemisinin has several characteristics that make it an excellent malaria medicine:

1. It brings down the parasitaemia (the number of parasites in the blood) faster than any other antimalarial drug - ten times faster than the previous best, quinine.

2. It has few side-effects.

3. Two million cases of malaria are estimated to have been treated with artemisinin-based drugs with no reports of severe toxicity, suggesting that immediate and severe complications associated with this group of drugs are rare.

4. Artemisinin is well absorbed by mouth and is not unpleasant to take.

5. It can also be given by intravenous or intramuscular injection, in a once-daily administration.

6. Its use is shown to markedly reduce the carriage of gametocytes, the infective form of the parasite in human blood.

7. No resistance to artemisinins has been reported, despite centuries of use in China.

Meanwhile, work is taking place on creating an effective malaria vaccine which will revolutionise the world's approach to fighting malaria. There are about twenty vaccine candidates currently being used in clinical studies, and it is predicted that a vaccine may be available by 2010. Earlier this month, the Malaria Vaccine Initiative (MVI), a US charity, entered an agreement with Shanghai Wanxing Bio-Pharmaceuticals to support the development of a child vaccine against Plasmodium falciparum, the strain of malaria causing most of the deaths. There is also a major vaccine trial, funded by the Malaria Vaccine Initiative and the Wellcome Trust, taking place at the University of Oxford.