to continue to fight malaria  in the face of COVID-19.

A year ago, many people feared that

COVID-19 lockdowns and supply disruptions

would double the number of  malaria deaths in Africa.

So far, we've avoided that worst case scenario,

thanks to African countries

that quickly adapted their malaria programs

to work safely during the pandemic.

Malaria resources have been redirected

to help control the spread of COVID-19.

In Zambia, the national  malaria elimination program's

genomic surveillance laboratory

switched to find COVID-19 variants

circulating in the country.

And in Mozambique,

the application created for health workers

was switched to supply critical data

for the COVID-19 response.

Despite this progress,

the work is not over.

Malaria is still killing

more than 400,000 children every year.

The pandemic reminds us

why eradicating malaria is so important.

Many of the building blocks

we need to fight malaria and prevent

the next pandemic are the same:

accurate data, reliable supply chains

and resources that focus

on the needs of the poorest countries.

Malaria programs help build  stronger health systems

that will not only bring an end to malaria,

but protect us from the next pandemic.

And that means a much healthier,

safer world for everyone.