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New alliance against
malaria
By Sun News Publishing
Wednesday, October
8, 2008
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Considering the disease burden of malaria and its economic
effects in endemic countries in Africa and elsewhere in the
world, the new global alliance against the deleterious scourge
is a welcome relief. The new alliance tagged, Global Malaria
Action Plan (GMAP) is an international community intervention
to save millions of lives in the 20 hardest hit countries
in Africa.
Under the GMAP arrangement, the Roll Back Malaria (RBM) partners-Britain,
the United Nations, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
and Malaria No More, have teamed up with heads of state and
government, major agencies, the private sector, along with
faith and civil society leaders, for the success of the action
plan.
The team is working on the firm belief that the ongoing progress
in malaria and successful execution of the GMAP would act
as a catalyst for achieving five of the eight Millennium Development
Goals (MDGs).
The MDGs to be impacted by the new initiative include, the
eradication of extreme poverty and hunger; achieving universal
primary education; reducing child mortality; improving maternal
health and combating human Immuno-deficiency Virus (HIV)/
Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS); malaria and other
diseases. Additionally, experts have affirmed that minimizing
the malaria scourge would translate to more people being at
work, more children being at school and a break in the cycle
of poverty.
The plan which was unveiled at the United Nations half-way
towards 2015 is to renew commitments to achieving the MDGs
as well as marshall out concrete plans and practical steps
of action to accelerate progress over the next seven years.
The new approach stems from the success recorded by earlier
strategic interventions which have drastically reduced the
burden of malaria in some countries of high transmission.
In such areas, deaths occasioned by malaria have been reduced
by 50 percent or more in some countries.
The goals of the GMAP include achieving full malaria control
in all endemic countries, including those in Africa as well
as the rest of the world which will cost $5.3 billion in 2009,
$6.2 billion in 2010 and $ 5.1 billion yearly from 2011 to
2020. This will also involve research and development for
new treatments estimated to cost $750- $900 million over the
next ten years.
It is hoped that with affordable, safe and easy treatment
options currently available, the RBM partners could effectively
prevent and fight malaria as well as reduce the number of
preventable deaths to near zero.
But there is the need for concerted efforts of health authorities
in endemic countries towards the implementation of the plan
and make it to work. National governments of these countries
should commit more of their resources towards combating the
malaria scourge to a standstill.
We say this bearing in mind the fact that though access to
malaria control intervention rose sharply between 2004 and
2007, the global malaria burden is still very high. Regrettably,
poor-resource countries of the world especially those in sub-Saharan
Africa are still paying the malaria tax in addition to the
general debility and mortality induced by the disease.
The recent data from the World Malaria Report 2008 on the
disease is not good either. The report which drew upon data
collected between 2004 and 2006 estimate that the number of
malaria cases in 2006 was 247 million. The gory aspect of
the report is that small children remain by far the most likely
to die of the disease.
This notwithstanding, there is hope that with increased funding
and intense momentum towards reducing the malaria burden,
the victory over the scourge is very much in sight. But for
this to be achieved, there is the need for prudent management
of these funds and resources. Let us hope that this new initiative
will bring remarkable change in the fight against the scourge.
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