By: By Aliko Dangote, GCON: Chairman, Nigeria End Malaria Council
This September, as world leaders gather in New York for the 81st United Nations General Assembly, I will also attend the board meeting of the End Malaria Council.
At a time of conflict, debt pressures, and competing development priorities, malaria risks slipping down the international agenda. That would be a grave mistake. Malaria remains a preventable and treatable disease that takes lives, weakens health systems, and drains Africa’s productivity. Ending it is not only a moral imperative; it is one of the best economic investments our continent can make.
I have spent much of my working life building industries across Africa. In business, malaria rarely appears as a single line in the accounts. Its costs are scattered across lost shifts, medical claims, disrupted production, caring responsibilities and reduced household income. Yet when these costs are added together, malaria becomes an invisible tax on African enterprise.
The latest evidence shows both progress and the scale of the unfinished task. The 2025 Africa Malaria Progress Report estimates that African Union member states accounted for 96 per cent of global malaria cases and 97 per cent of deaths in 2024.
Nigeria has made important gains. Findings from the 2025 Nigeria Malaria Indicator Survey show that prevalence declined from 42 per cent in 2010 to 15 per cent in 2025. Nevertheless, Nigeria still accounts for an estimated 24.3 per cent of global cases and 30.3 per cent of malaria deaths, according to the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare.
These figures are not contradictory. They demonstrate that proven interventions work, while reminding us that population growth, uneven coverage and persistent gaps in prevention, diagnosis and treatment can still leave an unacceptable burden.
The economic choice is equally clear. Recent modelling by the African Leaders Malaria Alliance (ALMA) and Malaria No More UK estimates that getting malaria financing back on track could unlock $230 billion in African economic growth by 2030. Conversely, a major resurgence could erase $83 billion from the continent’s GDP.
Models are not guarantees, but the direction is undeniable. Healthier children learn more. Healthier adults work more consistently. Businesses face fewer disruptions, households retain more income and governments can direct scarce resources towards productive investment rather than avoidable illness.
Business leaders should begin where we have the most direct responsibility: our own workplaces.
Dangote Group runs an in-house malaria programme for staff, combining awareness, prevention and access to appropriate testing and treatment. The programme has reported positive results and has reinforced an important lesson: protecting employees from malaria is not simply a welfare benefit. It contributes to a healthier, more reliable and more productive workforce.
Our responsibility must also extend beyond the factory gate. Through its ADFIN nutrition programme, the Aliko Dangote Foundation provides anti-malaria counselling and commodities alongside nutrition services. The Foundation also supports malaria initiatives and organisations including the Corporate Alliance on Malaria in Africa, or CAMA. CAMA, now led by the Africa Business Coalition for Health, mobilises companies to support malaria control and elimination in workplaces and communities. The Foundation remains part of its Leadership Council.
These experiences have convinced me that Africa needs businesses to contribute more than cheques. Companies possess logistics systems, communications platforms, procurement expertise, technology, data capabilities and trusted relationships with employees and communities. These assets can help national malaria programmes overcome practical delivery bottlenecks.
National End Malaria Councils provide one mechanism for coordinating that contribution. Fourteen African countries have now established such councils. Together, they have mobilised more than $245 million in commitments from public, private and other domestic sources. In Nigeria, this includes a commitment to place $63 million in the national budget and the creation of a mechanism for pooling private-sector resources, according to the latest continental progress report.
These commitments are encouraging, but commitments alone do not prevent a single infection. Their value will be determined by whether they become timely disbursements, quality-assured commodities and effective services reaching the communities with the greatest need. Accountability must therefore be built into every financing initiative.
Africa must also strengthen its health sovereignty. The continent cannot remain indefinitely dependent on distant supply chains for essential medicines, diagnostics and mosquito nets. The latest Africa Malaria Progress Report estimates that 95 per cent of medicines used in Africa are imported. Nigeria is now pursuing partnerships for the local manufacture of artemisinin-based combination therapies, rapid diagnostic tests and next-generation insecticide-treated nets.
Local production must never mean lower standards. It must mean African manufacturing that meets the highest international requirements. The WHO prequalification of Swiss Pharma Nigeria’s sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine product demonstrates that this is achievable. More African manufacturers should be supported to reach the same standard through technology transfer, predictable procurement and strong regulation.
Governments must continue to lead. They are responsible for policy, public financing, regulation, surveillance and resilient primary healthcare systems. Business action should strengthen national plans, not create parallel structures or replace the role of the state.
At the same time, greater African ownership must not become an excuse for international partners to retreat abruptly. Domestic responsibility and global solidarity are complementary. African governments and businesses must mobilise more of our own resources, while international partners honour their commitments and align their support with country priorities.
I am asking Africa’s major businesses to take four practical steps over the next year.
First, measure the real cost of malaria to employees, operations and surrounding communities.
Second, establish a properly monitored workplace programme covering prevention, education, testing, referral and treatment. Third, contribute financial resources or core business capabilities such as logistics, communications, data or procurement to the gaps identified in national malaria plans. Fourth, report those contributions and their results annually.
At the End Malaria Council board meeting in New York, I will argue for this standard of measurable action. By the time leaders gather again next September, Council members and partner companies should be able to state clearly what they contributed, where it was deployed, and what changed as a result.
Malaria is not an unavoidable cost of doing business in Africa. It is a solvable barrier to our prosperity.
Ending it would mean healthier children, stronger families, more dependable workforces, more resilient health systems, and faster economic growth. Few investments offer returns that are at once so human and so economic. Africa should make that investment now.