Dangote Says Malaria Elimination Could Add $230 Billion to Africa’s Economy
Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote, has renewed his call for urgent global investment in the fight against malaria, arguing that eliminating the disease could unlock as much as $230 billion in economic growth across the continent by 2030. The Dangote Group chairman, who also serves as Chairman of Nigeria’s National Malaria Elimination Council and as a United Nations Malaria Ambassador, made the case as part of a broader push by health advocates to secure full funding for global malaria programmes.
Dangote’s remarks align with findings from a joint report by the African Leaders Malaria Alliance (ALMA) and Malaria No More UK, titled Malaria: The Price of Retreat. The analysis modelled the economic and health consequences of different funding scenarios ahead of the eighth replenishment of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, which brought together donor governments and endemic nations to determine future financing levels. According to the report, a resurgence driven by underfunding could cost Africa up to $83 billion in lost GDP by 2030, alongside roughly 525 million additional malaria cases and nearly a million deaths, including 750,000 among children under five.
Framing the issue in business terms, Dangote argued that malaria functions as a direct brake on Africa’s economic potential, describing it as a disease that saps enterprise and productivity in the communities it affects most. He has consistently pushed the view that businesses struggle to thrive in populations weakened by preventable illness, positioning malaria elimination as a sound economic investment rather than purely a humanitarian cause. The Global Fund currently provides close to 60 percent of all international financing for malaria control, supporting tools such as next-generation mosquito nets and seasonal chemoprevention programmes for children in high-burden countries.
Other figures in the malaria response echoed the urgency of the moment. ALMA’s leadership has framed continued investment as a “win-win” that both saves lives and strengthens broader health systems, while advocates from Malaria No More UK have warned that cutting funding now risks triggering the worst resurgence of the disease in years. Their warnings come against the backdrop of sub-Saharan Africa’s outsized share of the global malaria burden, with the region accounting for more than 90 percent of cases and deaths worldwide, and Nigeria alone representing roughly a quarter of the global disease load.
Separate economic modelling has produced similar, if varied, estimates of malaria’s drag on African growth, with some studies pointing to a $126 billion GDP boost from a 90 percent reduction in cases by 2030, and others citing broader trade and investment gains tied to improved public health outcomes. Despite differences in exact figures, the studies broadly agree on the underlying message: sustained investment in malaria control delivers outsized economic returns, with some analyses estimating that every dollar spent generates tens of dollars in societal benefit.
As global health financing faces mounting pressure from competing priorities, Dangote and other advocates are urging both donor governments and malaria-endemic nations to treat elimination efforts as a financial priority rather than a discretionary expense. With 2030 targets already at risk of slipping, the coming months of funding decisions are expected to determine whether Africa moves closer to eliminating malaria or faces a costly reversal of decades of progress.
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