SUMMARY
- Kenya, Mozambique, and other malaria-prone regions lose critical IRS campaigns as US slashes foreign aid under Trump’s “America First” doctrine.
- WHO and The Global Fund warn of a “perfect storm” threatening to reverse decades of progress in malaria control.
- 2025 rainy season begins in western Kenya without insecticide spraying — and with no backup plan in place.
The Mosquitoes Are Winning: How Trump’s Aid Cuts Are Endangering Africa’s Most Vulnerable
For decades, the war on malaria was one of humanity’s few quiet victories: millions of lives saved, a growing arsenal of weapons, and slow but measurable progress even in the world’s poorest corners. But that fragile success story is now unraveling — and fast.
The rainy season is approaching in western Kenya. Normally, this would be the cue for mass insecticide spraying to stop malaria-carrying mosquitoes before they hatch. But in 2025, that protection is gone. Canceled. Forgotten in the fallout of U.S. President Donald Trump’s sweeping freeze on foreign aid.
In Busia and Migori counties, two of the regions with the highest malaria prevalence in Kenya, the Indoor Residual Spraying (IRS) campaign was scrapped after Amref Health Africa, the NGO charged with implementation, lost critical U.S. funding. Across the continent — in Mozambique, Niger, Congo, and Nigeria — similar stories are playing out. Aid suspensions are forcing the closure of malaria programs, surveillance efforts, and net distribution campaigns.
This article explores the fallout of America’s aid withdrawal through three critical lenses: the frontline failures now unfolding in Kenya and beyond, the deep systemic risks that threaten global malaria control, and the moral reckoning for Washington’s isolationist turn.
Because of the funding cuts to USAID to NIH and CDC, the Trump admin has undone decades of work and made the chance of preventing the spread of malaria much worse—jeopardizing the health of people around the world and at home in the U.S. #WorldMalariaDay https://t.co/sfQI6bsnca
— Rep. Lizzie Fletcher (@RepFletcher) April 25, 2025
From Kenya to Congo: Frontlines Are Failing Without IRS and Bed Nets
- Kenya’s Amref Health halted IRS campaigns in two high-risk counties after U.S. funding dried up.
- Mozambique’s Malaria Consortium canceled a 5-year surveillance program and laid off technical staff.
- Over 40% of insecticide-treated net campaigns across Africa are now “delayed or at risk,” WHO warns.
IRS is one of the most effective ways to combat malaria. The process involves spraying insecticide on indoor walls to kill mosquitoes before they can transmit the disease. But in 2025, that weapon has been taken off the table in Kenya’s most vulnerable zones.
“The IRS is classified as a high-impact intervention in malaria prevention, but we couldn’t go ahead with it,” said George Githuka of Amref Health Africa. For families in Busia and Migori, that translates to a bleak reality: mosquitoes are coming, and this time there’s no defense.
Mozambique is reeling too. Maria Rodrigues of the Malaria Consortium described how a crucial five-year surveillance project was canceled overnight. “We had to dismiss a number of highly capable technical staff,” she said. “Without data, we can’t control anything.”
This is not just about missed targets or budget gaps. These cuts mean children dying from a disease that is both preventable and curable.
The Fragile Web of Global Malaria Control Is Now Tearing
- Malaria killed nearly 600,000 people last year, mostly African children under five.
- The WHO warns that progress since 2000 — over 2.2 billion cases and 12.7 million deaths averted — is being undone.
- The Global Fund says malaria response now faces “a perfect storm” of drug resistance, climate change, and funding loss.
Even before the U.S. cuts, malaria control was fragile. New insecticide-resistant mosquito strains. Drug resistance. Climate change creating longer rainy seasons and new breeding grounds. Now add in funding shortfalls, and you’ve got a recipe for resurgence.
“We are now facing a perfect storm,” said Scott Filler of The Global Fund. “If we don’t stay focused, we will see a resurgence.”
History supports that warning. When global eradication efforts were abandoned in 1969, malaria roared back. It took 30 years to regain momentum. That lesson should loom large today.
In 2023 alone, there were 263 million new malaria cases — up 11 million from the year before. And this was before Trump’s aid freeze triggered the most widespread disruption to malaria programs in over a decade.
America First, Africa Forgotten: The Moral and Global Costs of U.S. Retreat
- Trump’s freeze of USAID — the primary funder of global malaria efforts — gutted support for Africa’s highest-risk regions.
- The U.S. had contributed nearly 40% of all malaria funding globally between 2010 and 2023.
- Despite partial reinstatements, damage to supply chains, training programs, and medicine stockpiles is already done.
No single country has invested more in the fight against malaria than the United States. From 2010 to 2023, nearly 40% of global funding came from Washington. Under Trump’s first term, this generosity was weaponized — foreign aid was slashed under the “America First” banner. In 2025, that doctrine returned in full force.
The most recent freeze caught dozens of programs mid-rollout, severing training pipelines and blocking the purchase of diagnostic kits and medicine. Stockpiles of antimalarial drugs are now critically low across dozens of African nations, the WHO reports.
Even where partial funding has resumed, the ripple effects remain devastating. Broken trust. Lost staff. Missed vaccination windows. Cancelled monitoring programs that were essential for containing outbreaks.
And it’s not just Africa that loses. Diseases do not respect borders. A global malaria resurgence could affect tourists, returning travelers, or even lead to reintroduction in places long thought malaria-free.
Mosquitoes Don’t Wait for Politics: Africa’s Next Malaria Surge May Be Days Away
Kenya’s rainy season is starting. So is Mozambique’s. Nigeria is already seeing spikes. Mosquitoes are hatching. Nets are missing. Medications are late. And millions of children under five are now at greater risk.
The malaria war was one we were beginning to win. But in 2025, the politics of isolationism and austerity have dealt a severe blow to one of global health’s biggest success stories. The question now is not if there will be a resurgence. It’s how bad it will be — and how long it will take the world to catch up.
Without swift international coordination — and a reversal of the U.S. retreat — Africa could soon face a second malaria crisis as deadly as the one of the early 2000s. And history has shown: rebuilding progress takes decades. Losing it takes only months.
