Health 
Significant progress fighting malaria in Africa

Malaria kills over a million people a year, with nine tenths of the victims in Africa and most under the age of five. The "Africa Malaria Day" was introduced this year by the United Nations and its partners to inform communities about malaria prevention and treatment and to mobilize action against the disease. 

In conjunction with the Day, a new study on African governments' progress towards combating malaria reported that to date, five African countries - Côte d'Ivoire, Nigeria, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia - have changed their policies and reduced or abolished taxes and tariffs to help lower the price of insecticide-treated bed nets (ITNs). The nets are considered one of the most effective prevention measures for malaria. 

When properly used, treated bed nets can reduce the risk of transmission by as much as 63 percent. Recent surveys show that sleeping under an insecticide impregnated bed net reduced mortality by 25 % in The Gambia, 17 percent in Ghana and 33 percent in Kenya. Sleeping under a bed-net also reduces prevalence of anemia in children. However, in most malaria endemic regions, fewer than 10 percent of children or pregnant women regularly sleep under insecticide-treated bed nets.

Adult female Anopheles (malaria) mosquitos sit with body and biting mouth parts in a straight line when feeding.  © Photo: WTO/TDR.

Bed nets are considered one of the most effective measures for malaria prevention but are too expensive for many families to afford. A major reason: states continue to charge large import duties and domestic taxes on finished bed nets, netting material, and insecticides. The tariffs can comprise 30 or 40 % of the retail price of the nets. 

- In some countries, the price of a treated bed-net is as much as 8% of per capita GNP, said Dr Gro Harlem Brundtland, Director General of the World Health Organisation (WHO). "Making these effective prevention tools available to all who need them is one of the big challenges African governments face in their war against malaria," she continued.

At the same time, the malaria report, which was commissioned by the Roll Back Malaria partnership and compiled by Boston University, emphasized that more needs to be done to make the nets affordable to the poorest sectors of all Africa societies. 

The primary goal of Roll Back Malaria is to reduce malaria-related mortality by 50% by 2010. "The political will to reach this goal is there," said David Alnwick, manager of the Roll Back Malaria project, presenting the report. "What we now need is for African governments, the international community and the private sector to strengthen partnerships and expand the resource base so that we can scale up action."

Marking the event
The event was marked yesterday by the Nigerian Government in Abuja, where on this day last year, 38 representatives of African States committed themselves to reducing the human and socio-economic costs of malaria. They vowed to take action to ensure that by 2005, at least 60 per cent of those suffering have affordable treatment within 24 hours, that at least 60 per cent of pregnant women and children benefit from insecticide-treated bed nets, and that at least 60 per cent of all pregnant women who are at risk of malaria have access to treatment.

Mozambican president Joaquim Chissano used the day to appeal to the private sector to get involved in a joint, enhanced fight from all parts of society aginst malaria. Malaria is one of the main factors behind the high mortality rate of Mozambique, Chissano revealed. The desease also is one of the most important reasons for the high rate of work and school absence in the country.

One of the world's deadliest diseases
Malaria is one of the world's deadliest infectious diseases and a major obstacle to development in Africa south of the Sahara. Nearly one million people die from malaria each year in Africa alone, most of them children. The disease accounts for 20 % of under-five mortality in Africa and constitutes 10 % of the continent's overall diseaseburden. Those numbers rise significantly in malarial areas, where the disease accounts for 30-50 % of in-patient admissions and incurs 40 % of total public health expenditures.

- Malaria continues to kill a child every 30 seconds, making the present malaria toll in Africa a flagrant violation of the rights of children and women, said Carol Bellamy, Executive Director of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF). 

Malaria has severe negative effects on maternal health and birth outcomes. It causes anemia, is associated with increased risks of miscarriage, and is responsible for one-third of preventable low birth weight - one of the main causes of mortality in an infant's first month of life and a major cause of poor child development. 

The economic impacts of malaria are profound. Annual economic growth rates in countries with high malaria transmission over a period of 25 years were 1.3 % lower than in non-malarious countries, according to the report. Compounded over the fifteen year period 1980-1995 this annual drop in growth leads to a 20 % reduction of GNP per capita.

Sources: UN sources and RDP

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