Each December, I mark the anniversary of my survival from cerebral malaria. That near-death encounter left me partially blind, profoundly changed and forever aware of the precarious nature of global health.

I contracted malaria in 2012 while working on a project in Liberia funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development. What started as fever and chills after a weekend in a coastal village spiraled into unconsciousness. Within days, I was in a coma, with parasite-laden blood cells swelling my brain.

I only survived because of an extraordinary improvised coalition of friends, colleagues and an overstretched clinic doctor who arranged my emergency evacuation to Paris. Millions of other people aren’t as lucky.

Today, malaria remains the leading cause of death in Liberia, a nation of 5.5 million people. Roughly one in 10 Liberian children dies before their fifth birthday — many from preventable causes like malaria. In the rainy season, roads become impassable, and rural families often walk for miles to reach a clinic — only to find no medicine, no trained staff and no tests.

For nearly two decades, America had been a beacon of hope in this fight. That ended with the dismantling of USAID.

The President’s Malaria Initiative was the U.S. government's largest program to combat malaria. Led by USAID and co-implemented with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the initiative........

© The Hill