AMF has been built by the generosity of several
hundred thousand donors in 190 countries, most of whom give modest amounts: $2,
€5, £10, ¥500. Every $2 buys a net, and every net protects two people as they
sleep. Every donation that has ever been made to AMF has protected people from
malaria. Every single one has counted.
When
we started over 20 years ago, we could not have imagined how many people would
care enough to give their time, energy and money. We have been humbled by what
our donors have raised. From annual donations of US$1m in 2005 to US$347
million in financial year 2026, (including GiveWell’s grant described below), the
growth has been remarkable, and the difference our donors have made together
has gone far beyond anything we hoped for. We passed 100,000 donations in 2015
and a million in 2025. The nets our donors have funded have now protected, or
will protect, 850 million people across 35 countries.
That
community matters for more than the nets it buys. A large and growing body of
donors sends a clear signal to governments, partners and funders that a great
many people around the world care about reducing malaria. No single grant,
however large, can send that signal, and we never take it for granted.
Because
AMF’s central costs are very low (a five-year average of 0.6% of revenue) and
are covered by a small group of generous donors, 100% of the money we raise
from the public is spent directly on our programmes. Every donation, of every
size, goes to work.
How far could we go?
In
August 2026, AMF received an amazing US$276m grant, the largest in our history,
from GiveWell and Coefficient Giving, to fund 31 net
distributions in the Democratic Republic of Congo between 2027 and 2029. This
built on significant support over 18 years from GiveWell, which will
potentially expand its malaria funding further in the coming years.
That
grant, and conversations with other potential funders this year, led us to ask
a question we would never have thought possible when we started: how far could
AMF go in closing the remaining gap in malaria protection?
The
gap is still large: for nets, at least US$1 billion per year is required to
reach full coverage in 20 key countries, based on our analysis of national
malaria programme needs. We have always taken care to deliver on every promise
we make to our donors and make sure that every additional two dollars protects
people with a net, so we have been careful not to overreach.
AMF
can play a major part in closing that gap. The model we have built and proven
over 20 years, which has grown from funding 250,000 nets a year to tens of
millions, can go further while keeping our core promise to donors that every
dollar goes to protect people.
AMF’s capacity: US$4 to 5
billion over six years
Over the six years from 2030 to 2035, AMF has the
capacity to deploy between US$4 to 5 billion in malaria control programmes, the
majority in net distributions, across up to 20 high-burden countries.
Funding
at this level would transform malaria control in those countries, providing ~160
million nets and protecting ~280 million people every year, and preventing more
than 600,000 deaths over six years. These figures cover the full cost of
programmes over 2030 to 2035, including distribution costs and the expected
cost of nets at that time, so they do not translate directly into today’s cost
of a net. For a sense of scale, at today’s cost of around US$2 a net, every
US$100 million buys around 50 million nets, enough to protect around 90 million
people. Our estimate of deaths prevented is based on large trials that found
that nets reduce child deaths from all causes by 17%, preventing around 5.6 deaths
a year for every 1,000 children protected (Cochrane Review, 2018). We adjust
this figure for today’s lower malaria death rates and for the nets people would
receive without this funding, which is why our estimate is lower than the trial
results alone would suggest.
AMF
is ready to deliver this. We have built a model that scales, and we have hired,
and continue to hire, highly capable and motivated people to run successful
programmes. Over the last three years, AMF has funded, and with partners
delivered, more than 100 million nets in seven countries. Of the last 215
million nets AMF has distributed, 99% have been verified as reaching the
households for which they were intended. Data-driven accountability sits at the heart of what we do.
No
single funder will close a gap of this size. Even after the largest commitments
are made, we expect there to remain substantial room for further funding, so
every donation – every $2 – will continue to buy nets that would not otherwise
be bought.
We
are making this capacity public now because funders have told us that knowing
it exists helps them decide where their funding can have the greatest impact.
Timing matters too: malaria control planning works best when AMF has funds in
hand around three years before nets are distributed, so it is funding committed
from 2027 onwards that makes distributions from 2030 possible.
Where AMF fits
A
comprehensive malaria control strategy draws on many tools: prevention
(insecticide-treated nets, spatial emanators, seasonal and perennial malaria
chemoprevention, preventive treatment in pregnancy, indoor residual spraying
and vaccines); diagnosis and treatment (rapid diagnostic tests,
artemisinin-based combination therapy, severe malaria treatment and community
case management); and the health systems and surveillance that make them work.
Together, they need far more funding than is available. In 2024, total malaria
funding of US$3.9 billion reached less than half of the US$9.3 billion target
for 2025 set by WHO’s Global Technical Strategy for Malaria (WHO, World Malaria Report 2025).
AMF’s
greatest contribution currently is to fund net distributions, because nets are
among the most cost-effective tools available and because of AMF’s track record
in delivering them. That is where the US$4 to 5 billion would go. It would also
allow other funders, such as The Global Fund, to focus more of their resources
on the other critical and cost-effective activities needed to bring down malaria. We will continue to review whether new tools could be as or more cost effective than nets.
AMF has funded net distributions
for over 20 years, continually refining how they are planned, delivered and
monitored to maximise their impact – the full
list of all distributions is shown on our website.
Strategy, Planning and
Operations
The scale of what we have described rests on how AMF
plans. Experience over 20 years has shown that the success of a programme is
closely linked to how well we and our partners plan. We approach strategy,
planning and operations over nine, six and three years respectively.
Strategy – 9 years
AMF
looks at a nine-year period, equivalent to three three-year cycles, when
considering strategic direction and choices.
We
look at nine years because malaria is unlikely to be brought under control in
many countries within three or six years, but over nine years major progress is
achievable with adequate funding, the right combination of interventions, and
excellent and accountable operational delivery.
Planning – 6 years
Our
planning horizon is six years, and this is the timeframe over which we consider
funding. We look at specific opportunities over this period and develop them
into the funding required. The US$4 to 5 billion described above is the result
of that assessment and planning. This broadly matches the funding cycles to which most other major malaria control donors and malaria-endemic countries work.
Operations – 3 years
Our
operational focus is three years, and this is where the majority of our
resources are directed. It matches the timeframe of the net distributions and
post-distribution monitoring we undertake while operations are ‘live’. That
focus is deliberate, because AMF is, and should be, judged on results achieved:
distributing nets accountably to those who need them, in the right quantities,
and their impact on malaria.
Our next steps
We
are speaking with a number of funders and will report in the months ahead on
new partnerships and secured funding. Some of these may be significant.
If
you are an individual, family, foundation or institution in a position to
support this work at scale, we would welcome a conversation.
And
to every donor who has given $2, €5, £10, ¥500 or more: thank you. You built
AMF, every one of your donations has counted and will count, and you are the
reason it is now possible to talk about closing the gap in this way.