AFRO-NETS> Africa Malaria Day 2002

[Andrea Egan <egana@mail.nih.gov>]

Africa Malaria Day 2002
-----------------------

Dear Colleagues, 

Here are some press releases to highlight Africa Malaria Day 2002. All 
the press releases can be viewed on the Roll Back Malaria web site: 
http://www.rbm.who.int

some are available in French and Portuguese. 

Andrea Egan

--
Mobilizing Communities to Roll Back Malaria Today Africa Malaria Day is 
being celebrated throughout Africa, marking the second anniversary of 
the signing of the Abuja Declaration where 44 African Heads of State 
committed themselves to intensifying actions to roll back malaria. This 
year the theme of the day is 'Mobilizing Communities to Roll Back Ma-
laria' highlighting the essential function of communities in the fight 
against malaria. The day is being used to promote the home management 
of malaria and the need for prompt access to effective treatment by fo-
cusing on the vital role of community members such as health workers, 
mothers, shopkeepers, birth attendants and others who often provide the 
first point of contact for sick people living in remote, under-served 
areas. Visit the RBM website now to see the latest press releases, me-
dia coverage and find out what is happening around Africa:
http://www.rbm.who.int

Some of the press releases are below:

WHO URGES COUNTRIES TO ACT ON NEW ANTI-RESISTANCE MALARIA MEDICINES

Tackling rising levels of medicine resistance is one of the key chal-
lenges to African States in their efforts to control malaria and meet 
the declared target of saving the lives of half the 800,000 young chil-
dren who die of the disease every year by 2010.

The cheapest and most readily available medicines are increasingly in-
effective. That's why the World Health Organization (WHO) in its pro-
gram to Roll Back Malaria is urging countries to switch to a new type 
of combination therapy when there is strong evidence that existing con-
ventional medicines are no longer working.

The Artemisinin-Based Combination Therapies (ACTs) are derived in part 
from a Chinese herb and are the most exciting prospect in new malaria 
treatments. They kill the malaria parasite very fast, allowing the pa-
tient to recover rapidly, and with very few side effects.

Because ACTs combine two medicines which work in different ways, it is 
unlikely that the malaria parasite - which has rapidly developed resis-
tance to other, single treatments - would evolve to resist these medi-
cine combinations.

WHO has just added one of the combination medicines (arte-
mether/lumefantrine) to its Essential Medicines List - a list which 
prioritizes essential medicines for countries.* This medicine, known by 
the brand name Coartem, is the only medicine which combines an artemis-
inin and non-artimisinin compound in a single tablet. WHO also recom-
mends other combinations of artemisinin compounds with currently used 
medicines, such as amodiaquine or sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine, for use 
where these medicines are still effective.

The Board of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria, meeting in 
New York, have decided to fund proposals to "Roll Back Malaria" in Zan-
zibar and Zambia. These proposals include purchasing and phasing-in the 
use of new ACTs.

"We hope that the Fund and other funding mechanisms will be used to 
purchase ACTs where they are needed to treat malaria and improve the 
control of the disease in communities at risk," Dr Gro Harlem 
Brundtland, Director-General of WHO. "WHO has worked with a variety of 
partners including the manufacturers to reduce the price of ACTs in de-
veloping countries. It is important that countries which need ACTs are 
able to access and use them in a sustainable manner."

For decades, the best-known treatment for malaria was chloroquine, an 
inexpensive medicine that has saved millions of lives. However, in re-
cent years, the malaria parasite has developed resistance to chloro-
quine and so, in many countries, it is no longer an effective treat-
ment. Many countries in Eastern, Central and Southern Africa are al-
ready experiencing high levels of resistance to chloroquine, and resis-
tance is also appearing more and more in West Africa.

As a result, many countries have moved to sulphadoxine-pyrimethamine, 
known as SP or "Fansidar", as first line treatment. However, resistance 
to SP is also spreading.

There is new evidence that the number of child deaths due to malaria 
has begun to increase as a result of failing medicines and medicines of 
poor quality. Recent evidence also indicates that, due to rising levels 
of medicine resistance, almost half of the money spent on anti-malarial 
medicines is being used to pay for inappropriate treatments. This also 
highlights the need for more efforts on preventing malaria, using 
proven cost-effective measures such as insecticide treated bednets.

It takes time to change medicine policy and to implement the change. 
New sources of materials and financing have to be found, medical per-
sonnel trained, and distribution channels ensured. As more countries 
start deploying these new combination medicines it is expected that 
their production will be scaled up to meet the demands. Additional 
safety information on these medicines is now being sought in special 
groups at risk such as young infants and pregnant women. Improved pack-
aging of these medicines will help to ensure that patients adhere to 
the full treatment course.

WHO recommends that countries begin the transition as soon as levels of 
resistance exceed 15% and that the change will be implemented before 
resistance reaches 25%.

* In the current WHO definition. "Essential medicines are those that 
satisfy the priority health care needs of the population, are intended 
to be available within the context of functioning health systems at all 
times in adequate amounts, in the appropriate dosage forms, with as-
sured quality, and at a price the individual and the community can af-
ford."

For more information, contact 
Prudence Smith, Communications Advisor, Communicable Diseases - Roll 
Back Malaria, WHO, Geneva. Tel. (+41 22) 791 4586; Fax (+41 22) 791 
4824; Email: smithp@who.int or contact Iain Simpson, Information Offi-
cer, Communicable Diseases, WHO, Geneva. Tel. (+41 22) 791 3215; Fax 
(+41 22) 791 4832; Email: simpsoni@who.int 
All WHO Press Releases, Fact Sheets and Features as well as other in-
formation on this subject can be obtained on Internet on the WHO home 
page http://www.who.int

--
AFRICA FACES NEW MALARIA THREAT

Resistance to available anti-malarial drugs has become a growing threat 
to efforts to control the malaria in Africa, the World Health Organiza-
tion's Regional Office for Africa warned in Brazzaville on Wednesday.

In a statement to mark the continent's second Africa Malaria Day on 
Thursday, whose theme is Mobilizing Communities to Roll Back Malaria, 
the WHO Regional Director for Africa, Dr Ebrahim Samba, said a result 
of this development had been an increase of malaria cases and deaths on 
the African continent.

Malaria kills more than one million people worldwide every year. Of 
these, 90 per cent are in Africa. Most of those killed on the continent 
are children. One out of every five African children dies from malaria 
before the age of five.

"Africa is seeing an increase in malaria as resistance to common anti-
malaria drugs becomes a common threat.

"Barely 15 years ago, chloroquine was a cheap, widely available and 
highly effective drug against the illness. Today, one in two cases of 
malaria in East and Central Africa cannot be treated effectively with 
chloroquine because of resistance to the drug," Dr Samba said.

He said while new drugs may become available, they are likely to be 
more costly and less accessible to especially Africa's poor.

Population movements into highly endemic areas due to civil strife and 
emergencies and resistance of malaria-transmitting mosquitoes to some 
insecticides have compounded the malaria situation in Africa, he said.

Dr Samba warned that the economic burden of malaria on Africa was heavy 
and that the illness had become a major development issue. Citing a re-
cent study by Harvard University, he said sub-Saharan Africa's GDP in 
the year 2000 would have been a colossal 32 per cent higher had malaria 
been eliminated 25 years ago.

"Malaria, it is abundantly clear, is a major obstacle to progress and a 
critical development issue," he said.

Dr Samba said it was, however, gratifying to note that cots of rolling 
back malaria in sub-Saharan Africa remained relatively small compared 
with the potential benefits. According to the study cited above, the 
short-term benefits of control can be estimated at US$12 billion a 
year.

Dr Samba urged Africa and its global partners to pull together in the 
fight against malaria. "We have the tools. We have the economic and 
moral justification. Let us now muster the will to Roll Back Malaria."

For further information, please contact Dr Yao Kassankogno Regional Ad-
viser, Malaria Control World Health Organization - Regional Office for 
Africa P.O. Box BE773, Belvedere, Harare, Zimbabwe Email: kassankog-
noy@whoafr.org Tel: (+ 263.4) 700026; 746127. Or Public Information and 
Communication Unit P.O. Box 6, Brazzaville, Congo Tel: 1 321 95 39378; 
Fax: 1 321 95 39513

--
GLAXOSMITHKLINE ANNOUNCES NEW COMMUNITY INITIATIVE FOR MALARIA IN 
AFRICA

Pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) is demonstrating its com-
mitment to communities affected by malaria by launching a funding pro-
gram designed to 'kick-start' scale-up of activities in malaria con-
trol.

Focusing on Africa, where the greatest disease burden and the vast ma-
jority of malaria deaths occur, GSK's African Malaria Partnership (AMP) 
will award grants totaling US$1.5 million over three years to three 
community-focused behavioral development programs. By providing three 
years of funding, AMP grants will allow innovative and effective con-
cepts to become established and to demonstrate further success. The aim 
will be to leverage this success to attract additional funding for fur-
ther scale-up so that programs can be expanded and/or replicated else-
where.

"GSK is major producer of medicines that treat malaria and is con-
stantly researching new and better vaccines and treatments," says Dr 
Richard South, director of GSK's malaria community partnership pro-
grams. "But we recognize that other initiatives are also needed which 
is why we are launching the African Malaria Partnership. Around 90 per 
cent of the 300-500 million cases of malaria that occur each year are 
in Africa, making it the area of greatest need. This is why GSK has 
chosen to focus its malaria community partnership efforts there."

National Malaria Control Programs (NMCPs) in all malaria-affected Afri-
can countries will be invited to submit a proposal for funding. Not-
for-profit organizations can also submit proposals but must do so via 
the relevant NMCP. Non-profit program proposals that relate to more 
than one country must also indicate that any relevant NMCP endorsement 
of the proposal has been obtained. Involving the NMCP as a key partner 
will ensure that program proposals form part of an integrated malaria 
control strategy.

GlaxoSmithKline - one of the world's leading research-based pharmaceu-
tical and healthcare companies - is committed to improving the quality 
of human life by enabling people to do more, feel better and live 
longer. For company information and further information on the African 
Malaria Partnership, visit GSK on the World Wide Web at www.gsk.com

Enquiries: Mark Watkins: +44 (0)20 8047 5525 or +44 (0)1279 644427

--
UGANDA TARGETS CHILD KILLER ON AFRICA MALARIA DAY NEW HOME BASED 
MANAGEMENT INITIATIVE COULD SAVE THOUSANDS OF CHILDREN'S LIVES EACH 
YEAR

Getting the right drugs quickly to sick children would save many of the 
one million lives lost each year to malaria. But for most African chil-
dren--who are the main victims of this shocking and avoidable death 
toll--the drugs are either not available or not effective.

That's why the World Health Organization, UNICEF and other partners in 
Roll Back Malaria are supporting a new government-led initiative in 
Uganda to provide rapid, appropriate, effective and free malaria treat-
ment to the people who need it most--mainly mothers caring for their 
sick children.

Home Based Management of malaria is a simple concept that could revolu-
tionize the delivery of malaria treatment and help to cut the enormous 
human and economic cost of malaria in Africa. Uganda is leading the way 
with a program that has been tested in three districts and will be 
rolled out as official national treatment policy for malaria on Africa 
Malaria Day (April 25th). There are plans to introduce Home Based Man-
agement in other malaria-endemic countries in Africa, starting in Burk-
ina Faso, Ghana, Nigeria and Zambia.

Instead of walking miles to reach a health center and then waiting for 
hours, mothers will soon be able to knock on a neighbor's door to get 
the help they need. With Home Based Management, every village or commu-
nity will have at least one volunteer drug distributor trained to rec-
ognize the symptoms of malaria and provide the appropriate drugs to 
treat it. The volunteers are mainly elected from within their communi-
ties and are committed to making a difference.

Stephen Semambo is a volunteer drug distributor in the village of Seki-
wungga. "People come to my house in the middle of the night," he says. 
"I don't mind. There have been no deaths from malaria in this village 
since HBM began."

The scale of the project is ambitious. If the scheme is to work across 
the whole country, 80,000 volunteers must be recruited and trained as 
drug distributors (two for every village in the country) and some 20 
million specially produced packs of anti-malarial drugs must be dis-
tributed to them Across Africa, malaria is a problem of staggering pro-
portions and appalling statistics. It is estimated that 300 - 500 mil-
lion people are infected with malaria each year. At least one million 
of them will die from the disease every year, most of them children.

Somewhere in Africa, a child dies every 30 seconds, as a result of this 
preventable, controllable and curable disease.

In the three districts of Uganda where the Home Based Management scheme 
has been evaluated, the reaction from volunteers and villagers is over-
whelmingly positive.

Eunice Tushabeomuwe, a volunteer drug distributor in Rwankyenzi vil-
lage, says: "I want to help people in my community. When people get 
better, they thank me. As long as I live I will continue with this 
work."

One of the key objectives of the Roll Back Malaria partnership is to 
provide prompt access to effective treatment. At the Abuja Summit on 
Roll Back Malaria of 2000, African governments committed themselves to 
providing effective treatment within 24 hours to 60 per cent of chil-
dren with a fever by the year 2005.

The successful introduction of Home Based Management will be a major 
step towards achieving this target. As it is introduced more widely 
across Africa, Home Based Management will become a key weapon in the 
fight to Roll Back Malaria.

For more information contact: David Alnwick, Project Manager, Roll Back 
Malaria, WHO, Geneva, +41 22 791 2769 Prudence Smith, Communications 
Advisor, Roll Back Malaria, WHO, Geneva, +41 22 791 4586 For details of 
Africa Malaria Day visit: 
http://mosquito.who.int/amd/abuja2002_first.htm

--
Andrea Egan, PhD
Multilateral Initiative on Malaria
Fogarty International Center
National Institutes of Health
31 Center Drive MSC 2220
Building 31, Room B2C39
Bethesda, MD 20892, USA
Tel: +1-301-402-6680
Fax: +1-301-594-1211
mailto:egana@mail.nih.gov

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