WASHINGTON, October 29 2008: On September 25, 2008, World Bank President Robert Zoellick announced a 1.1 billion US dollar expansion of the Bank’s fight against malaria in Africa.
The announcement followed the approval two days earlier of the second phase of the Bank’s flagship program to eradicate the disease: the Booster Program for Malaria Control in Africa. Phase I of the program committed 470 million US dollar to 19 countries in three years.
Spending to save
The latest World Health Organization Global Malaria Report released in September 2008, estimates up to 327 million cases of the disease in 2006, nearly one million of which were fatalities. The vast majority of those deaths were children in Sub-Saharan Africa, making malaria the biggest single killer of Africa’s youngest citizens.
Malaria costs Africa an estimated 12 billion US dollar in lost GDP every year. And while some countries in Africa are experiencing four-to-five percent annual economic growth, expansion could be 1,3 percent higher without the burden of malaria.
Major reductions in malaria deaths and illness are possible within the next five to seven years if the international community reduces costs and spends wisely. A new Global Malaria Action Plan, launched at a high-level meeting of world leaders at United Nations headquarters also on September 25, estimates that an annual investment of 3 billion US dollar for the next several years will eliminate malaria as a public health problem in Africa, and paves the way for malaria’s eradication.
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