Davos, Switzerland (dpa) - Global health and business leaders
announced a major effort to scale-up malaria control which aims to
save 3.5 million lives in the next five years.
The three-year effort is to target the 30 hardest-hit countries in
Africa which, it is claimed, would prevent 672 million cases of
malaria and increase annual economic output by as much as 30 billion
dollars.
A report published for the Roll Back Malaria Partnership including
the WHO, World Bank and UNICEF and private sector involvement
proposed to double spending from 1 billion to 2.2 billion a year over
fove years.
UNICEF Executive Director Ann Veneman speaking at the World
Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland said an estimated 800 000
children under the age of five die from malaria in sub Saharan
Africa.
"This is simply unacceptable," he said. "A priority must be placed
on rapidly scaling up malaria control as part of an integrated child
survival programming."
Several countries had made considerable progress in fighting
malaria, such as Ethiopia, where 18 million mosquito nets had been
distributed in two years. The nets had proved one of the most
effective ways to prevent the spread of the disease by mosquitos.
World Bank President Robert Zoellick said: "It's estimated malaria
costs 12 billion dollars a year in Africa in lost productivity. The
disease strikes farmers just before the rains limited their ability
to reap their harvests."
Rajat Gupta of the Global Fund to Fight Aids, Tuberculosis and
Malaria said: "This report shows we can save millions of lives and
make extraordinary progress in defeating malaria worldwide over the
next five years."
Copyright 2008 dpa Deutsche Presse-Agentur GmbH