Gene drive could reshape the malaria fight and young people must be at the centre
Gene drive could reshape the malaria fight and young people must be at the centre
Tags: Africa, Gene drive, MalariaDr. Phillip Chigiya, African Leaders Malaria Alliance, 2025.
The only time I was ever admitted overnight in hospital was when I was five years old. I had malaria. I still remember the strange chill of the sheets, the IV line taped to my small hand, and my mother at my bedside, watching me breathe. That moment has never left me.
Since then, I have moved from patient to practitioner. I have worked in clinics and hospitals across Africa, and malaria has never been far away. I have diagnosed it in children too young to speak, in teenagers missing school, and in pregnant women arriving in labour wards with dangerously low haemoglobin. Sometimes treatment is routine. Sometimes it is a race against time. It is easy to be swept up by bold declarations, especially on World Malaria Day. But we must be honest. The progress we once celebrated is stalling. In 2023, there were over 263 million new malaria cases and an estimated 597,000 deaths, most of them in Africa. One child dies every minute. Behind every number is a name, a family, and a future lost too soon.
