In a release issued in Monrovia, the Starks Foundation said its attention has been drawn to the recent developments on the suspension of the United States Government Aid that will negatively impact the fight against malaria and affect the gains already made, by reducing the prevalence rate of malaria to at least 10-13% according to the Liberia Malaria Indicators Survey (LMIS) of 2020. The civil society organization that has been at the forefront of the fight against malaria praised the US government through USAID; “The Aid has been a major source of support for anti-malaria drugs and commodities in Liberia for over a decade now through the President’s Malaria Initiatives (PMI). Each year the PMI spends 14 million United States Dollars to support the fight again malaria and for 2025 the PMI/USAID has increased the support to Liberia to 15 million United States Dollars prior to this suspension (www.pmi.gov).” According to Starks, the cancellation of USAID’s aid package will lead to huge gap and massive stock out of malaria commodities in health facilities that will put the entire population especially pregnant women and children under five years at risk of malaria, as malaria is endemic in Liberia. This, the release said, will also affect other health interventions, including HIV. Through FHI 360 Epic project, about 25 health facilities are being managed with USAID funding to provide quality care and treatment to HIV positive persons including pregnant women to avoid transmission to their unborn babies as well as other prevention interventions. Additionally, through the World Food Program (WFP), USAID supports the distribution of all health commodities from the Central Medicine Store (CMS) to the 15 counties. As an institution that supports the national efforts against malaria and the civil society representative on the Liberia Coordinating Mechanism Board, we are worried that if this suspension goes beyond the three months, gains made in health response might be reversed with citizens resulting to traditional method of healing. Via this medium, Starks Foundation said it is therefore, calling on the President of the Republic of Liberia His Excellency Joseph Nyuma Boikai, Sr. and the National Legislature to intervene urgently by allocating funding to breach the gap that this suspension has caused by having a relook at the national budget and allocate adequate funding for the procurement of life commodities for our needed population. The Starks Foundation, according to its literature, is a civil society organization that is supporting the fight against malaria for over twenty–one years.
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