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Global Health Events

Friday, April 25, 2008

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Friday announced a new initiative to provide universal access to malaria control measures in Africa by 2010, Reuters reports (Charbonneau, Reuters, 4/25).

In a video message played during a World Malaria Day event at U.N. headquarters in Geneva, Ban said that in recent years, several African "countries have made dramatic strides in malaria control but that the most-affected nations remain off track to reach the goal of halting and reversing the incidence of the disease." He added, "That is why today, together with the Roll Back Malaria Partnership, I am putting forward a bold but achievable vision" that aims "to put a stop to malaria deaths by ensuring universal coverage by the end of 2010."

The initiative includes a target to provide insecticide-treated nets to an additional 500 million people -- which will require the procurement of 250 million ITNs -- the Associated Press reports. That amount is "four to five times what we've done in the past, so that's a real ratcheting up," Ray Chambers, U.N. special envoy for malaria, said. According to RBM, funding is available to purchase about 100 million ITNs over the next two years, which leaves a shortfall of 150 million ITNs at a cost of about $10 per net (Associated Press, 4/25).

Ban also called for an increase in malaria clinics and preventive treatment facilities, training for community health workers and research into the disease, BBC News reports (BBC News, 4/25). He called on partners to expand the delivery of malaria control interventions -- through community health workers, nongovernmental organizations and faith-based organizations -- and to the lay the foundation for malaria eradication, Xinhua/CRI.com reports. "We have the resources and the know-how, but we have less than 1,000 days before the end of 2010," Ban said (Xinhua/CRI.com, 4/25).

Chambers said the initiative initially will focus on the "20 plus" countries with the "biggest malarial problems," adding, "If we can bring malaria under control and bring deaths close to zero, ... then begins another challenging period to maintain control of malaria with additional [ITNs], with very careful vigilance. If we don't, we're likely to have a great recurrence" (Associated Press, 4/24).

SADC Ministers, Advocates Gather To Mark World Malaria Day
Fourteen ministers of health from the Southern African Development Community, singer Yvonne Chaka Chaka, Princess Astrid of Belgium and RBM gathered on Friday in Livingstone, Zambia, to mark World Malaria Day. The two-day celebration began on Thursday with a concert, and speeches by local and international officials.

Some officials and RBM members visited local treatment facilities and distributed more than 1,000 ITNs, Herve Verhoosel, media and project manager for RBM, said (Brooks, Cape Times/Independent Online, 4/25). Officials also greeted the RBM Zambezi Expedition crew as it arrived in Livingstone for World Malaria Day. The expedition, launched three weeks ago, passed through Angola, Namibia and Botswana and will continue on to Zimbabwe to the mouth of the Zambezi River in Mozambique, arriving in mid-May.

Brian Chituwo, chair of SADC health ministers, said, "This year's slogan" -- which is "Malaria - a Disease Without Borders" -- illustrates the "essence of the bold Roll Back Malaria Zambezi Expedition, which will demonstrate that only a cross-border initiative can force the disease into retreat in the region." Expedition leader Helge Bendl said, "Access is one of the biggest challenges along the river. Flooding, cross-border population movement and lack of health facilities make life difficult." Bendl added that the "determination of local malaria control staff and the communities to get malaria commodities to where they are needed has been truly amazing (RBM release, 4/25).

World Malaria Day Comments
"Malaria-related sickness and death are falling in a number of key countries," Michel Kazatchkine -- executive director of the Global Fund To Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria -- said, adding, "but malaria still claims more than a million lives a year. Our challenge is to make [ITNs] available for everyone at risk of malaria, especially children and pregnant women, and to expand access to the latest treatment" (Friends of the Global Fight release, 4/25).

U.S. first lady Laura Bush during comments made on Thursday said that the U.S. is using "very concerted government efforts" through the President's Malaria Initiative "in the 15 hardest-hit countries that have the most malaria." She said, "We're doing this in partnership with each of these African governments, and I think that's why these efforts have been effective." She added, "We anticipate more positive results as PMI is implemented in eight new target countries this fiscal year. And we're working toward our goal of reducing malaria deaths by 50% in the 15 PMI-targeted countries" (White House release, 4/24).

African musician and malaria advocate Youssou N'Dour in a World Bank statement said, "The world has started a war against malaria -- a war we can all win." He added, "Mosquitoes don't care about visas -- we need cross-border efforts like the Zambezi region proposes."

World Bank Vice President for Africa Obiageli Ezekwesili, said, "The good news ... is that more African countries are showing that it is in fact possible to control malaria," adding, "Despite difficult conditions and initial pessimism, countries such as Benin, Ethiopia, Rwanda, and Zambia are successfully scaling up malaria control efforts through provision of [ITNs] and effective drugs. Certainly more countries can follow a similar path with enough resources and technical support" (World Bank release, 4/24).

Henrietta Fore, USAID administrator, and Timothy Ziemer, PMI coordinator, said that the international community should "remember those taken or stricken by one of the planet's oldest scourges, made more tragic because it is preventable," adding, "We must rededicate our commitment to help rid malaria as a major killer in Africa by focusing our efforts on the most vulnerable, pregnant women and children" (PMI release, 4/24). A World Malaria Day Webcast is available online at kaisernetwork.org. Print This ArticlePrint Entire Report

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