"The remarkable gains made in the treatment of malaria over the past decade are under threat because of insufficient increases in funding over the past two years, according to an annual progress report by the World Health Organization," the Guardian reports (Boseley, 12/17). In its World Malaria Report 2012 (.pdf), the [WHO] notes that rapid expansion in global funding for malaria prevention and control between 2004 and 2009 leveled off between 2010 and 2012," the U.N. News Centre writes (12/17). "Global funding for malaria control remained at $2.3 billion in 2011, the WHO said" in the report, Bloomberg notes, adding, "Money available for combating the mosquito-borne disease is expected to peak at about half of the $5.1 billion that's needed annually to provide bed nets, tests and drugs to all the people who need them, the WHO said" (Bennett, 12/17). "This means that millions of people living in highly endemic areas continue to lack access to effective malaria prevention, diagnostic testing, and treatment," according to a WHO press release (12/17).