From Africa Recovery, Vol.12#2 (November 1998), Briefs page

Renewed efforts to roll back malaria

Four international agencies -- World Health Organization (WHO), World Bank, UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) and UN Development Programme (UNDP) -- united to launch the Roll Back Malaria campaign on 30 October at the UN in New York. Distinguishing itself from previous efforts to fight malaria, the RBM campaign is a global partnership with bilateral development agencies, development banks, governments, non-governmental organizations and the private sector. By strengthening the health services available to affected populations and stimulating research and development of new methods for controlling the disease, the RBM campaign aims to cut the number of deaths from malaria by 50 per cent by 2010 and by 75 per cent by 2015. "We need a sustained effort this time. We need to reach a child with fever within hours with simple and inexpensive medication," said Dr. Gro Harlem Brundtland, WHO Director-General, speaking at the RBM campaign launch.

Focusing first on Africa, the site of 90 per cent of all malaria cases, the RBM campaign's aims include upgrading health delivery systems, intensifying use of insecticide-coated bednetting, mapping malaria regions, and coordinating the development of new drugs and vaccines.

The vast majority of malaria victims are sub-Saharan African children who lack access to health services. In trials involving the use of bednets treated with biodegradable pyrethroid insecticide in The Gambia, Burkina Faso, Kenya and Ghana, deaths among children under 5 declined dramatically.

Recalling that insecticides introduced 30 years ago generated great hope at that time for the imminent eradication of malaria, Dr. Brundtland cautioned that the disease is "coming back in countries where it had gone and it's increasing in countries where it's been endemic all the time." Calling on the private sector to join in the campaign against malaria, Dr. Brundtland declared, "We don't say 'eradicate' anymore. We know we cannot eradicate malaria in the next 10 to 15 years. Meanwhile, we must make a greater effort to look for the vaccine that could make the difference."

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