“There is currently a $3.6 billion funding gap on malaria in Africa, according to the Roll Back Malaria Partnership, whose board concluded its 23rd meeting in Dakar, Senegal, on December 7,” Devex’s “Development Newswire” blog reports. Of the total, eight African countries — Nigeria, Central African Republic, Cote d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Mauritania, Niger, and Sierra Leone — need $2.4 billion to maintain their malaria prevention and treatment efforts over the next two years, “with Nigeria alone requiring nearly half that amount,” according to the blog (Ravelo, 12/10).

“Board members emphasized the need for an intense and rapid mobilization of increased domestic resources as well as international donor funding, and innovative financing,” according to an RBM Partnership press release. “We urgently need fresh ideas and new thinking about financing mechanisms that will reap greater resources for malaria. … We are exploring all options — financial transaction taxes, airline ticket taxes together with UNITAID, and a ‘malaria bond,’ among others,” RBM Partnership Executive Director Nafo Traore said in the statement (12/7).