Malaria kills over one million people every year, mainly in Africa south of the Sahara. Another 300 million to 500 million have the disease. But despite the dedication of many fighting this formidable enemy, progress is chronically slow. Politicians and research administrators are prone to throwing in the towel. Basic researchers often care more about their next grant proposal or publication than going that extra mile to tailor their work better to meet the needs of researchers in poor countries for applicable tools. And bureaucrats in the international health system (see page 422) sometimes pay more attention to, well, their bureaucracy.

The time is right for a sustained effort to eradicate malaria. This week sees the publication of the genomes of Plasmodium falciparum, the deadliest malaria parasite, and its proteome (see pages 498–542), and of Anopheles gambiae (Science 298, 129–149; 2002), the mosquito vector. These, combined with the human genome, mean that the scientific infrastructure for a complete understanding of the biology is now in place, as well as for generating drug and vaccine targets in a faster and more rational manner (see also pages 426 and 429).

Resources for malaria research and control are still scandalously scarce, but are getting better for control, thanks to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, whose US$100-million input this year will double the overall funding for control. To capitalize on the science, a comparable Global Health Research Fund is also required. Most importantly, there is a need for everyone involved to coordinate their efforts in basic genomics, drug and vaccine discovery, and implementation in the field. There is a rallying call for the international health and research community that may sound trite but is both apt and timely: “Together, we can and must stop malaria.”