“Millioner af børn kan reddes med metoder, der allerede har vist sig effektive, alligevel står vi og mangler penge”, siger topmand i FN, som frygter at verdenssamfundet vil forpasse muligheden for at få bugt med den ondartede lidelse.
GENEVA, 17 December 2012: A significant slowdown in global funding of anti-malaria campaigns threatens to roll back impressive gains made against the preventable mosquito-borne disease over the last decade, the United Nations health agency said Monday as it released its annual assessment report on the disease.
In its World Malaria Report 2012, the World Health Organization (WHO) notes that rapid expansion in global funding for malaria prevention and control between 2004 and 2009 levelled off (fladede ud) between 2010 and 2012.
“These developments are signs of a slowdown that could threaten to reverse (rulle tilbage) the remarkable recent gains in the fight against one of the world’s leading infectious killers,” the Geneva-based agency said on the report.
660.000 malaria-døde i 2010
Malaria struck an estimated 219 million people globally in 2010, killing about 660.000, mostly children under five years of age, WHO stated.
“If we fail to come together and urgently resolve the shortfall, there will be no averting a humanitarian crisis,” the UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for Malaria, Ray Chambers, said in the WHO report’s findings.
“Millions of children can be saved in the coming years with methods that have already proven their success, yet we will lose this chance if funds are not mobilized immediately,” he added.
Funding commitments for anti-malaria programmes began rising markedly following the launch of the UN-backed Global Fund to Fight Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria, a public-private international financing institution launched in 2002.
The Global Fund has supplied more than half of the 10 billion US dollar in international funding since 2007, with other leading donors including the United States President’s Malaria Initiative, the United Kingdom, the World Bank, and the WHO-hosted drugs-purchasing organization launched in 2006 called UNITAID.
Hvordan mon det går i 2013….
Key now is how those funding mechanisms will be topped up amid changes in the way some operate, according to Mr. Chambers’ office.
“The replenishment (genopfyldning) and recapitalization in September of 2013 of the Global Fund, which… emerged from a year of crucial reforms, will be a decisive factor in determining if the progress is able to be maintained”, stated the UN malaria envoy’s office.
“The same applies to additional funding from other primary funders, including the World Bank’s International Development Association, or IDA, which is also seeking a replenishment next year, and continued support from the United States and United Kingdom,” office added.
Malaria koncentreret om 14 lande
Some 80 per cent of malaria deaths occur in 14 countries, with Nigeria, DR Congo and India among the worst affected.
According to WHO, the initial funding scale-up is credited with saving 1,1 million lives – 58 per cent of them in countries where the spread of the disease had been most marked.
“We cannot achieve further progress unless we ensure that sustained and predictable financing is available,” said WHO’s Executive Director, Dr. Margaret Chan, adding:
“We must act with urgency and determination to keep this tremendous progress from slipping out of our grasp.”
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http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=43788&Cr=malaria&Cr1=#.UM-f82V1T4s
Begynd fra: “The funding slowdown, which is occurring just three years….”
Her kan man også hente (downloade) rapporten fra WHO i sin helhed.
