THE OFFICIAL WEB SITE OF THE MADISON TIMES WEEKLY NEWSPAPER

Compiled By Heidi M. Pascual

• African leaders prioritize malaria

LONDON (IPS/GIN) —Malaria was a top priority in the new health initiative  launched in Africa at a high-level session of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria, which began in Tanzania Nov. 17. Presidents Benjamin W. Mkapa of Tanzania, Yoweri Museveni of Uganda, Paul Kagami of Rwanda, Mwai Kibaki of Kenya, and Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria attended the meeting, as did Global Fund board chair Tommy Thompson.

"At our meeting in Geneva in May, 47 percent of the funds were allocated for malaria," Awa Marie Coll-Seck, executive secretary of the Roll Back Malaria Partnership, told IPS (Inter Press Service). "For the first time, more funds were allocated for fighting malaria than for AIDS.”

The Global Fund is an independent public-private partnership set up to raise and disburse substantial new funds to fight the three diseases. The Roll Back Malaria Global Partnership was launched in 1998 by the World Health Organization, UNICEF, the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), and the World Bank. The fund raises about a billion dollars a year. But the fund will still fall far short of needs.

"The global fight against malaria needs additional funding of about  $3.5 billion a year," Coll-Seck said. "We currently have only about $500 million."

The malaria partnership is looking for new donors, she said. "But we think that all those who are giving today can give more. We are talking to Japan and to the Nordic countries, to involve them more. We believe that when they have full information on the impact of malaria and its impact on development, they will be sensitive to the needs."

A child dies from malaria every 30 seconds. Malaria causes more than a million deaths and contributes to an additional 1.7 million deaths annually. In Africa, malaria is the leading cause of death for children under 5.

Malaria costs Africa $12 billion every year in lost gross national income, holding back economic and social development. Malaria can account for 40 percent of total government spending on health. In some countries, malaria accounts for up to half of all hospital admissions and outpatient visits.

Poor families spend up to 25 percent of their annual income on direct malaria-prevention and treatment costs. Additional indirect costs include lost income and lost productivity due to absences from work because of illness or of caring for those who are ill with malaria.

"We know how to tackle malaria; we have the strategies. But the problem is the means, by way of human and financial resources," Coll-Seck said.

The means can be as simple as spreading a mosquito net. And mosquito nets were high on the agendas of the five presidents last week. Before the meeting, President Mkapa was due to inaugurate the first African textile mills’ manufacture of newly designed and long-lasting insecticidal mosquito nets. At their meeting, the presidents were expected to make key decisions about distributing the new mosquito nets among vulnerable groups, particularly children.

The use of these nets, combined with the roll-out of highly effective new generation malaria drugs in many African countries, is expected to precipitate a decline in malaria deaths. That will depend substantially, however, on how much new funding becomes available for fighting malaria.

The malaria partnership has set a goal of halving the incidence of malaria by 2010. The campaign is being tied in closely with the Millennium Development Goals. —Sanjay Suri

END OF INTERNATIONAL NEWS