[afro-nets] The Roll Back Malaria Partnership

[Claudio Schuftan <claudio@hcmc.netnam.vn>]

The Roll Back Malaria Partnership
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WHAT A PARADOX...
Claudio

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From: Judy Ladinsky <jlladins@wisc.edu

Roll Back Malaria Press Release

PARTNERSHIP GAINS GROUND IN THE FIGHT AGAINST MALARIA

Geneva / Lusaka / Brussels / Washington DC, 21 April 2005

A single word has become the touchstone for hopes that a suc-
cessful battle can be waged against malaria in Africa: /partner-
ship/. At a time when funding to fight malaria is still sorely
lacking, a kaleidoscope of organizations, governments, busi-
nesses and celebrities in Africa, Europe, North America and
Asia, united under the banner of the Roll Back Malaria Partner-
ship, have made unprecedented gains over the past year. On Mon-
day 25 April, partners around the world will celebrate these
successes as they commemorate Africa Malaria Day 2005. Under the
theme Unite Against Malaria, celebrations will focus on the im-
portance of partnership at the national, regional and global
levels for fighting malaria.

Working with partners has allowed Zambia to make great strides
in the fight against malaria, which include exceeding our 2005
target for providing malaria prevention for children under five,
said Zambian Health Minister Dr Brian Chituwo, whose country
will be hosting this years main regional Africa Malaria Day
event. Zambia is not alone; many countries have had similar suc-
cesses enabled by the commitment and coordination of partners:
Throughout Africa and the world tens of millions of people will
benefit from greater availability of these medicines thanks to
public-private collaboration by partners in Europe, China and
the United States to ramp up production by the end of this year.

Malaria in Africa

Malaria kills nearly a million African children under five each
year, more than any other single infection. Every day 3,000
children die from this disease; those who survive may suffer
from brain damage or paralysis. Pregnant women and their unborn
children are also especially vulnerable to malaria, which is a
major cause of low birth weight, anaemia and infant death. Ma-
laria can be prevented through personal protection against mos-
quito bites and treated effectively with medication. Malaria
costs African countries US$ 12 billion every year in lost GDP.
The cost of effective malaria control in Africa would be just
US$ 2 billion per year.

The Roll Back Malaria Partnership

To provide a coordinated international approach to fighting ma-
laria, the Roll Back Malaria Partnership (RBM) was launched in
1998 by the World Health Organization, the United Nations Chil-
drens Fund (UNICEF), the United Nations Development Programme
(UNDP) and the World Bank. The Partnership now brings together
governments of countries affected by malaria, their bilateral
and multilateral development partners, the private sector, non-
governmental and community-based organizations, foundations, and
research and academic institutions around the common goal of
halving the global burden of malaria by 2010.

For more information:
mailto:smithp@who.int
mailto:ptitol@who.int