Taxes and Tariffs Remain a Challenge to Tackling Malaria

Malaria has an enormous impact on the health and development of 109 countries globally—it kills more than 700,000 people each year and costs Africa alone more than $12 billion per year. Millions of people living at risk of malaria continue to lack access to essential anti-malaria commodities. This challenge continues despite a significant increase in global funding for malaria. One area where we can achieve rapid progress in expanding access to anti-malaria commodities is to strengthen the political momentum to remove taxes, tariffs, and non-tariff barriers (NTBs) on these commodities that contribute to unnecessary costs and significant delivery delays.

Research conducted by M-TAP indicated that taxes, tariffs, and NTBs remain a serious challenge to the timely, efficient, and low-cost delivery of life-saving tools to at-risk populations. These essential anti-malaria commodities identified by the World Health Organization include: artemisinin-based combination therapies; rapid diagnostic tests; long-lasting insecticidal nets; insecticides for indoor residual spraying (IRS); and compression spray pumps for IRS. Policy action on taxes, tariffs, and NTBs can help donor organizations, non-governmental organizations, and the private sector to enhance their malaria reduction efforts. Countries that commit to eliminating importation barriers can also accelerate their progress towards achieving key Millennium Development Goals.

Related presentation by Gene Rosengarden, Chair, Customs and Trade development Group:

Malaria - Gene Rosengarden, 2012 from Capacity4Dev

To watch a related PREZI, go here: http://prezi.com/jvdotnongyoy/malaria-treatment-tax-tariff-customs-refo…