Humanity has battled malaria for millennia. Luckily today, malaria can be prevented and treated thanks to the latest medical and scientific advancements. Yet this deadly disease still affects hundreds of millions of lives in more than eighty-five countries. More alarmingly, the numbers of malaria cases and deaths worldwide have increased since the onset of the pandemic, shining light on a concerning trend: global progress toward malaria eradication has reached a plateau in recent years.人类与疟疾的斗争已持续千年。幸运的是，得益于医学和科学领域的最新进展，我们已经可以预防和治疗疟疾。尽管如此，这一致命的疾病仍威胁着超过85个国家中的数亿人口。更令人担忧的是，自新冠肺炎疫情开始以来，全球的疟疾病例数与死亡数一直在增加。这揭示出一个让人忧心的趋势：根除疟疾的全球进展在近些年陷入了停滞。
By writing about Mosquito Week every year on my personal blog, I aim to raise awareness on why mosquitos are the deadliest animals on earth, reflect on our progress in reducing mosquito-borne diseases, and offer a path forward for vector control around the world. Mosquitoes cannot be underestimated. They can transmit a wide range of devastating diseases to humans, from dengue and Zika to malaria.通过每年在我自己的公众号上撰文纪念“蚊子周”，我希望让更多人意识到为什么蚊子是地球上最致命的动物，反思我们在减少蚊媒疾病方面取得的进展，以及为全球病媒控制提供一个前进的道路。蚊子的危害不可低估。它们能将一系列的严重疾病传播给人类，包括登革热、寨卡和疟疾。
Over the past two decades, the Gates Foundation has invested over $3 billion in malaria programs to achieve a world free of this unforgiving disease. Yet, issues such as increasing drug and insecticide resistance, and resurgence of malaria transmission represent major hurdles in the prevention and control of malaria. Experts agree that the tools we have today just are not enough – we need new tools, and we need to use our current tools more efficiently.过去20年来，盖茨基金会已经在疟疾领域投入了超过30亿美元，致力于实现一个没有这种无情疾病的世界。然而，不断增强的药物和杀虫剂耐药以及疟疾传播的反弹，是预防和控制疟疾的重要阻碍。专家们普遍认为我们现有的工具是不够的——我们需要新的工具，也需要更有效地利用已有的工具。
That is why I am confident that continuous investment in research and innovation is the way forward. Partners around the world, including academic institutions, industry, and innovative financing platforms have collaborated over the past five years to develop a robust innovation pipeline. We at the Gates Foundation are energized by these efforts and excited to see continued work to accelerate the development and rapid scale of more cost-effective and innovative solutions. These include next generation long-lasting insecticide nets, rapid diagnostic tests, optimal antimalarial drugs, and breakthrough vaccines.这就是为什么我相信，对研究与创新的持续投资才是前进的方向。包括学术机构、工业界和创新融资平台在内全球合作伙伴在过去五年间通力合作，打造出一个强有力的创新管线。我和盖茨基金会的同仁们为此感到振奋，并且激动地看到为加快开发及规模化更具成本效益、更加创新的解决方案所进行的持续努力。这些方案包括下一代长效杀虫浸药蚊帐、快速诊断检测工具、优化的抗疟药物和突破性的疫苗等。
To this end, China is playing a vital role in the global fight against malaria. One excellent example is the “Grand Challenges China”, a joint initiative established in 2016 between our foundation and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) to enhance global health and development. In this year’s joint call for proposals under the theme of “Grand Challenges: Outdoor Malaria Vector Control”, the winners make up six multi-country research projects led by Chinese universities and scientific research centers from Burkina Faso, the United States, the Netherlands, and Sudan. These collaborations are essential to tap into vector control innovation capacity around the world and to address the challenge of insecticide resistance. With these new tools, countries with high malaria disease burden will have more options when structuring and implementing tailored malaria response strategies.中国在全球抗击疟疾中正在发挥重要作用。一个很好的例子是“中国大挑战”，这是盖茨基金会与中国国家自然科学基金委员会于2016年联合发起的系列项目，旨在促进全球健康和发展。在今年以“大挑战：户外疟疾媒介控制”为主题的联合提案征集中，六个由中国高校与布基纳法索、美国、荷兰和苏丹等国科研机构合作的国际研究项目胜出。这些合作对挖掘全球病媒控制的创新能力和应对杀虫剂耐药挑战不可或缺。借助这些新工具，疟疾高负担国家在构建和实施量身定制的疟疾应对策略时将有更多选择。
▲ 在坦桑尼亚的Ikwiriri卫生中心，疟疾患者于驱虫蚊帐下休息。该中心参与了中国-英国-坦桑尼亚疟疾控制试点项目。图源：盖茨基金会Researchers and institutions in China have a rich history of discovering and developing breakthrough innovations for malaria response and their research collaborations can provide endemic countries the confidence and skills they need to eradicate this deadly disease. In 1972, a research team led by Tu Youyou – a Chinese scientist and first Chinese national to win a Nobel prize in science – discovered artemisinin, a drug derived from traditional Chinese medicine that has significantly reduced mortality rates for malaria patients. Since 2000, the WHO has recommended artemisinin, or one of its derivatives, as a first-line treatment for malaria.中国的研究者和科研机构在发现及开发应对疟疾的突破性创新方面具有丰富经验，他们与疟疾流行国的研究合作，可以为这些国家提供根除这种致命疾病所需要的信心与技能。1972年，由第一位获得诺贝尔科学奖项的中国本土科学家屠呦呦带领的研究团队发现了青蒿素，这是一种传统中药衍生出的药物，能显著降低疟疾患者的死亡率。自2000年起，世卫组织将青蒿素及其衍生物推荐为治疗疟疾的一线药物。
In recent times, Chinese institutions are also leaders in supplying malaria response tools around the world. According to the Global Fund, nearly half of all antimalarial drugs dispatched to low-income countries come from China. More importantly, all of the seasonal malaria preventive drugs purchased by the Global Fund for children under the age of five are manufactured in China.近年来，在向世界供应抗疟工具方面，中国机构也扮演着领军者的角色。全球基金的数据显示，在所有发往低收入国家的抗疟药物中，接近一半来自中国。更重要的是，全球基金采购的五岁以下儿童季节性疟疾预防药物全部产自中国。
In addition to its research and innovation experience, China’s steady progress in malaria response and achievement of malaria elimination can serve as a model to endemic countries. In the 1940s, China reported over thirty million malaria cases every year. After seventy years of continuous efforts, China has reduced the number of indigenous malaria cases to zero and, in June 2021, China was officially certified malaria-free by the WHO.除了研究和创新方面的经验，中国应对疟疾的稳步发展和消除疟疾的成就，也可作为供流行国学习的范例。20世纪40年代，中国每年报告的疟疾病例超过3000万例。经过70年的不懈努力，中国将本土疟疾病例数降到零，并于2021年6月正式获得世卫组织“无疟疾”认证。
China’s success in eliminating malaria can be attributed to its scientific research paired with a rigorous surveillance and response system. In the early 2000s, China introduced an initiative called “1-3-7”, which has been endorsed by the WHO. The system includes the reporting of malaria cases within one day, their confirmation and investigation within three days and, the implementation of public health measures to halt further transmission within seven days.中国消除疟疾的成功，可以归功于其将科学研究匹配上了严密的监测和响应系统。20世纪初期，中国启动了一个称为“1-3-7”的工作规范。这套系统得到了世卫组织的背书，它包括1天内报告疟疾病例、3天内完成病例确认和流行病学调查、7天内采取公共卫生措施以阻止进一步传播。
▲ 中国的1-3-7工作规范在消除疟疾过程中发挥了重要作用。图源：盖茨基金会Achieving a malaria-free world has been a top priority of our foundation over the past two decades. We have been keen to promote proven interventions to dramatically drive down malaria cases through our partnerships in China. In this way our foundation can leverage China’s R&D and manufacturing capacity, as well as its disease control expertise to help other malaria endemic countries end malaria. At the same time, we are committed to supporting more Chinese-made malaria drugs and commodities in meeting global demand.实现一个“无疟疾世界”是我们的基金会在过去20年里的工作重点。我们致力于通过在中国的伙伴关系，推广那些已被证实的干预措施，进而大幅减少疟疾病例。由此，我们基金会可以借助中国的研发和制造实力及其疾病防控专长，帮助其他疟疾流行国终结疟疾。与此同时，我们致力于支持更多中国制造的抗疟药物和物资被用来满足全球需求。
Lastly, I would like to share with you a few examples of our ongoing initiatives with Chinese partners in addition to the Grand Challenges China program. 最后，除了“中国大挑战”之外，我想与你分享其他几个我们正与中国伙伴开展的项目。
• Product innovation: In terms of supporting the research and development of anti-malaria products, the Global Health Drug Discovery Institute (GHDDI) – which was co-established by our foundation, the Beijing Municipal Government and Tsinghua University in 2016 – has seen significant progress in fulfilling its commitment to the development of malaria small molecule drugs. Our foundation is also collaborating on a project with a Chinese company to extract and synthetize traditional Chinese herbal medicines in an insecticide to prevent vector borne infectious diseases, which is currently undergoing clinical trials. In addition, we are supporting Chinese researchers to carry out R&D on artemisinin biosynthesis with the hope to reduce the cost of artemisinin-based treatment to further benefit low-income populations.• 产品创新：由盖茨基金会、北京市政府和清华大学于2016年联合创立的全球健康药物研发中心（GHDDI），已经在研发疟疾小分子药物方面取得了显著的进展。我们的基金会还与一家中国公司合作，提取及合成传统中草药制成杀虫剂，用于预防病媒传播的传染病，目前该产品正在开展临床试验。此外，我们正在支持中国研究人员开展青蒿素生物合成的研发工作，以期降低以青蒿素为基础的治疗方法的成本，使其进一步惠及低收入人群。
• Disease control model innovation: Since 2018, our foundation has supported China and Tanzania to jointly launch a pilot program, combining the Chinese “1-3-7” system with the WHO’s “Test, Treat, Track” (WHO-T3) Initiative. This innovative model offers diagnostic testing for suspected cases, treatment for confirmed cases, and tracking to prevent further transmission, significantly reducing the prevalence rate of malaria in the intervention communities. In light of these promising results, the WHO is planning to launch the pilot in other African countries, like Zambia, Senegal and Burkina Faso.• 疾病防控模式创新：自2018年起，我们的基金会开始支持中国和坦桑尼亚合作开展试点项目，将中国消除疟疾的“1-3-7”工作规范与世卫组织的“检测、治疗和追踪”三步法相结合。该创新模式包括疑似病例检测、确诊病例治疗及跟踪随访以阻止进一步传播，显著降低了当地的疟疾流行率。鉴于这些有前景的结果，世卫组织计划在其他非洲国家启动试点项目，如赞比亚、塞内加尔和布基纳法索。
Eradication is an achievable goal – as shown by China’s journey combating malaria – and the only sustainable solution to address malaria. With this as motivation, we must take hold of every opportunity to make continuous advancements in our investments, innovations, and partnerships as we race towards a shared goal of a malaria-free world. As such, I am looking forward to Chinese innovations playing a significant role in helping the world eradicate malaria and making malaria a disease of the past.
中国抗击疟疾的历程表明，根除疟疾是一个可以实现的目标，也是应对疟疾的唯一可持续方案。以此作为动力，我们必须抓住每一个机会，在投资、创新和伙伴关系方面不断取得进展，努力实现“无疟疾世界”的共同目标。因此，我期待看到中国的创新发挥重要作用，帮助世界消灭疟疾，使其成为过去的一种疾病。