“Malaria eradication programs will fail in the face of rising drug resistance without increased funding in malaria research and development (R&D), according to two major reports published this month,” SciDev.net reports. “Over the next decade, malaria R&D will need as much as $8.3 billion to overcome increasing resistance of mosquitoes to insecticides and malaria parasites to drugs,” according to a report (.pdf) from the PATH Malaria Vaccine Initiative (MVI), the news service writes, adding, “But the report also hails the progress made towards achieving global malaria targets.” A separate report from the WHO “also recognizes progress in fighting malaria,” but “says much more needs to be done to win the fight against malaria, including greater funding investments from a more diverse pool of donors,” the news service continues. The article quotes Ashley Birkett, MVI program leader at PATH, and Nick Chapman, a senior analyst at the think-tank Policy Cures (Kennedy, 12/19).