NEW YORK, 24 April 2009: UNICEF has enough money to provide bed nets treated with long-lasting insecticide to everyone in Africa at risk of malaria by 2010, which could eliminate by 2015 the almost 1 million deaths annually from the killer disease, UNICEF Executive Director Ann Veneman said Friday.
But more must be done to address the global scourge, UNICEF said, as it released a new joint report on the eve of World Malaria Day titled “Malaria & Children: Progress in Intervention Coverage”.
– We are, for the first time in history, poised to make malaria a rare cause of death and disability, said Ann M. Veneman, adding: – The report shows that endemic African countries received enough nets during 2004-2008 to cover more than 40 per cent of their at-risk populations.
Data presented in the “Malaria and Children, Progress in Intervention Coverage” report, a joint effort with the Roll Back Malaria (RBM) Partnership and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, show major signs of progress across Africa in the fight against malaria, particularly in the increase in distribution of insecticide-treated nets (ITNs).
Since 2004 the number of ITNs produced worldwide has more than tripled from 30 million to 100 million in 2008.
Global funding for malaria control has risen significantly in recent years. The Roll Back Malaria Partnership estimates that international funding has grown from 250 million US dollar in 2004 to 700 million in 2007, with funding expected to have reached 1,1 billion in 2008 alone.
– The report shows financing is now available to purchase enough nets to put Africa well on the way to achieving universal coverage by 2010, said Veneman.
– However every year, this disease still kills an estimated one million people, most of them children in Africa. Malaria also affects around 50 million pregnant women annually, contributing to maternal anaemia, low birth weight babies and even maternal death, noted she.
The theme of this years World Malaria Day, marked on April 25, is “Counting malaria out”, and there are now just over 600 days remaining until 31 December 2010, the UN Secretary-Generals deadline for all endemic countries to achieve universal coverage with essential malaria control interventions.
– Scaling-up effective interventions has led to declines in malaria cases and deaths at health facilities in many countries, including Eritrea, Rwanda, Zambia and Madagascar, said Veneman, adding:
– This has the added benefit of reducing the burden on over-stretched hospitals and clinics and having less absentees in the workplace and in school.
Malaria control is now a major global development priority and is critical for achieving the Millennium Development Goals in Africa.
Hele rapporten ses på http://www.unicef.org/media/files/WMD_optimized_reprint.pdf
Kilde: UNICEFs website
