As president of malaria charity Malaria No More UK, Prince Charles has a vested interest in wiping out the disease, but at a recent summit, the royal expressed his disappointment at setbacks in progress.#
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Speaking at the summit on Malaria and Neglected Tropical Diseases, Prince Charles shared he felt that the aim to end malaria by 2030 had been derailed by the Covid pandemic – with malaria worsening for the first time in a decade.
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"Largely due to the Covid pandemic there remains a great amount to do if our ambitions are to be met," he said.
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While the various lockdowns meant progress on tackling malaria was halted, Charles did say the pandemic had shone a light on infectious diseases.
"Post Covid, the world is paying greater attention to infectious diseases, and we must capitalise on this to provide proper support to prepare for, and respond to, infectious disease outbreaks," the royal said.
Prince Charles spoke at the summit on Malaria and Neglected Tropical Diseases
Prince Charles ended his speech by imploring attendees to help, saying: "We all have a responsibility to come together to accelerate action and the scaling of solutions."
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This is the second time the future king has spoken about Covid during an official engagement. In May 2022 he praised Oxford University for its efforts in the pandemic.
Prince Charles is on tour in Rwanda
The royal was visiting Oxford University's new Trinity College Levine Building and spoke about the university's 'vital' role in creating the Covid vaccine. The Duke of Cornwall praised "the benefits that Oxford can bring in a local national and global scale."
"The impact of this work was never more apparent, I think, than during the past two years when Oxford's scientists produced a vaccine to combat Covid in an extraordinary race against the clock," he said.
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