The Africa Regional Office of the World Health Organisation (WHO) is ready to spearhead the “Roll Back Malaria”, 01/09/97

The Africa Regional Office of the World Health Organisation (WHO) is ready to spearhead the “Roll Back Malaria” campaign which WHO Director-General -elect, Dr Gro Harlem Brundtland had pledged to launch when she assumes office in July.

This was announced Teusday by the WHO Regional Director for Africa, Dr Ebrahim Samba while briefing journalists at the organisation’s temporary office in Harare, Zimbabwe, on the just-concluded 51^st session of the World Health Assembly in Geneva.

“The epicenter of the malaria control programme is going to be Africa since Africa is far ahead in the current efforts to combat malaria..  we have the tools and we can bring down the mortality and morbidity rate in 10 to 15 years,” Dr Samba declared.

He noted that “malaria control must rank high among Africa’s priorities because the disease kills more than two million people every year on the continent,” saying “300 to 400 of the 500 million cases of the cases of the disease reported world-wide are in Africa.”

Dr Samba stated that the situation had worsened with mosquito resistance to traditional anti-malaria drugs, increasing incidence of malaria in countries where it did not exist before and the rise in the number of cases of cerebral malaria.

He hailed the election of Dr Brundtland who he describes as “a friend of Africa” and praised her efforts at winning the commitment of developed countries to achieving better health and protection from disease in developing countries, especially Africa which had the highest number of least developed countries.

He added that as a result of Dr Brundtland’s efforts, the international campaign against malaria would soon get a boost with a recent £60 million pledge by Britain to fight the disease.

Answering a question on the prevalence of AIDS on the continent and the consequent adverse effects on the social and economic life in Africa, Dr Samba said that his office would work to support and reinforce the efforts started by the Organisation of African Unity since the early 1990s to contain the pandemic which kills several thousand Africans every year.

He said the anti-AIDS campaign to be launched by WHO Africa Region would enlist the support and endorsement of African heads of state and other leaders as this would enhance its credibility and acceptability and increase the chances of its success.

Dr Samba also touched on the need to tighten tobacco control on the continent and called on the African media to be at the forefront of the campaign against smoking which in his words, “will kill more Africans than AIDS and malaria combined as we enter the 21^st century).”

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