Global Fund and United States Collaborate to Accelerate Deployment of Innovative Malaria Prevention Tool – Press Releases

The Global Fund and the United States are working together to speed up the implementation of an revolutionary malaria prevention tool

May 13, 2026

– The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (the “Global Fund”), in partnership with the United States Government and SC Johnson, today announced a brand new initiative to speed up the introduction and scale-up of revolutionary spatial deterrence technology, designed to enrich existing highly effective tools, resembling insecticide-treated nets, to enhance malaria prevention and save lives in a number of the highest burden countries.

The partnership will support the deployment of SC Johnson Guardian™, the primary spatial repellent shown to supply protection against malaria for 12 months. The device works by repeatedly releasing a proven energetic ingredient into the air that helps repel mosquitoes from indoor spaces. Currently, it’s endorsed to make use of spatial repellents along with mosquito nets. Through this collaboration, partners aim to guard no less than 60 million people by 2028 in priority countries in sub-Saharan Africa and other malaria-endemic regions.

Malaria kills about 600,000 people a 12 months; over 75% of those deaths occur in children under 5 years of age in sub-Saharan Africa. Developed through years of research and development on the SC Johnson Urban Entomology Center in Racine, Wisconsin, and manufactured in Kenya, this technology reflects a strong model of American scientific innovation combined with sustainable production near the communities most affected by malaria.

To increase access to this latest tool, the Global Fund will leverage its market shaping expertise, procurement platform and implementation partnerships to support rapid rollout and delivery of the product to countries most in need. The initiative is anticipated to expand access to next-generation malaria prevention technologies and help countries restore progress within the fight against malaria.

“Malaria remains one of the world’s deadliest infectious diseases, especially for children in sub-Saharan Africa,” said Peter Sands, executive director of the Global Fund. “Innovative partnerships like this are essential to stay ahead of the disease and save lives. By accelerating access to new tools alongside existing interventions, we can help countries strengthen malaria prevention and protect vulnerable communities.”

“The Department of State continues to rapidly make transformative investments in advancing U.S.-led global health care by implementing the groundbreaking Innovation Fund under the America First Global Health Strategy,” said Jeremy P. Lewin, senior official and acting under secretary for foreign assistance, humanitarian affairs, and spiritual freedom. “Secretary Rubio believes that with new technologies developed and manufactured here in the United States, we have an exciting opportunity to make focused and focused investments in measurable interventions that can help bend the curve of the world’s deadliest and most widespread epidemics and global health challenges. This exciting partnership will empower tens of millions of people in high-risk and low-income locations, protecting them from the scourge of malaria, while supporting thousands of research and real manufacturing jobs in the United States.”

The partnership is anticipated to facilitate the introduction of this technology in sub-Saharan African countries with the best malaria burden, in addition to in countries outside Africa facing other complex challenges or working towards malaria elimination.

The initiative also relies on contributions from partners including the Gates Foundation and Unitaid, whose continued investment in evidence has brought spatial repellents to market and continues to support their dissemination in countries most affected by malaria.

As malaria becomes increasingly complex attributable to aspects resembling insecticide resistance, expanding the toolkit of proven preventive interventions will probably be critical to maintaining progress.

The Global Fund provides 59% of all international funding for malaria programs and has helped save the lives of 70 million people in over 100 countries since its inception.