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WHO
Prepares For All Out War Against Malaria in Africa,
10/06/98
The
World Health Organisation (WHO) Regional Office
for Africa is making preparations for a programme
that will progressively reduce illnesses and
deaths due to malaria to a minimum in Africa over
the next 25 years.
The
programme called African Initiative for Malaria
Control in the 21st Century (AIM) will
be launched in 1999 and will cover all the 46
countries of the African region of WHO.
This
initiative will be implemented in phases and is
expected to reduce illnesses and deaths resulting
from malaria throughout the Region by 50% by 2010,
by a further 30% by 2015 and by another 20% by
2025.
The
ultimate goal, according to WHO, is that by 2030
“malaria will neither be the major contributor
to mortality and morbidity nor of significant
socio-economic consequence.”
Malaria
is the leading health problem in Africa South of
the Sahara today.
Almost all of the 550 million people in the
region run the risk of malaria. The disease attacks between 270 and 480 million people and
kills between 1.5 and 2. million each year.
The
problem is increasing as evidenced by the rise in
the number of illnesses and deaths due to it.
Areas where malaria was hardly ever known
before, such as the highlands of Eastern and
Southern Africa, are now having epidemics of it.
To make matters worse, the malaria parasite
has developed resistance to some of the
anti-malaria drugs and insecticides.
The
economic consequence of malaria-related diseases
are enormous.
The direct and indirect losses due to
malaria in the region rose from US800 million in
1987 to more than US$2,000 million in 1997.
It
is therefore no surprise that Africa has decided
to give priority to bringing the disease under
control. African Heads of States and Governments, at their meeting in
Harare in June 1997, issued a declaration on the
need to control malaria to ensure greater
socio-economic development in the continent.
Political support for its control is also
building up at many other for a.
The
key features of the implementation of the
initiative will be early treatment of malaria
cases; promotion of the use of
insecticide-impregnated nets; prevention,
detection or containment of epidemics; and
strengthening of the capacities of countries and
communities to combat the disease.
Since
Africa is the epicenter of the malaria problem, it
will be the spearhead of the global “Roll Back
Malaria” Programme. The
accumulated experiences of the malaria control
efforts of the African Regional Office places it
in a strategic position to ensure the success of
this initiative.
According
to the WHO Regional Director for Africa, Dr
Ebrahim M.Samba, “We have the tools and we can
significantly bring down the number of deaths and
illnesses due to malaria within 10 to 15 years.”
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