Fight against malaria requires $3.2 billion

An increase in collaboration and partnerships among donor and recipient countries is urgently required to boost efforts to prevent and treat malaria. The campaign requires around $3.2 billion if its ambition of achieving the target of “zero deaths” by 2015 is to be achieved.Research by the Nairobi-based Kenya Medical Research Institute (Kemri) has achieved some remarkable milestones in developing vaccines whose testing is at an advanced stage. Kemri, which is premier East African scientific institute, has won recognition for its ground breaking role in developing rapid diagnostic tools and in leading research that has led to the manufacture of more effective medications.The UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for Malaria, Ray Chambers, said that although malaria deaths have declined significantly in recent years, there is still much to be done to reach the ambitious goal of “zero deaths’ by 2015, and countries would need to increase their coordination in addressing the issue. He was speaking ahead of the World Malaria Day, which is being marked world-wide today.“We now have the challenge of having to raise around $3.2 billion to get us to the point of having a change to be at near-zero deaths by 2015,” Chambers said, adding that the funding is needed to renew bed nets which generally wear out after three years, as well as to make medication and rapid diagnosis available to the population. In Rwanda, the recent scaling up of interventions has made significant reductions in morbidity by 87 per cent from 1,669,614 malaria cases in 2005 to 212,200 cases in 2011 and reduced mortality by 76 per cent from 1,582 death in 2005 to 380 death in 2011, according to Dr Corine Karema, the Head of the Malaria and Other Parasitic Diseases Division at the Rwanda Biomedical Centre (RBC).These gains are largely attributed to the increased coverage and use of long lasting insecticidal nets (LLINs) which, according to the 2010 DHS results, “82 per cent of the population have at least one LLIN, and 72 per cent of pregnant women and 70 per cent of children under-five years were using bed nets.” In particular, voluntary community health workers, who are based at the grassroots, have played a key part in early diagnosis and treatment of children under-five years, and bringing down malaria incidence in the country, in general, officials say.“Previously and as the case in most developing countries, Malaria is treated based on signs and symptoms. However, Rwanda is one of the few countries in the world today where up to 94 per cent of Malaria cases are laboratory confirmed through microscopy or rapid diagnostic tests at all levels of health care structure including at community level,’ Karema explained. Malaria, which is caused by a parasite transmitted to humans through the bites of infected mosquitoes, kills more than 650,000 people around the world every year, with most of the deaths occurring in Africa.The theme for this year’s observance is “Sustain Gains, Save Lives: Invest in Malaria,” and it aims to emphasise the need to maintain the momentum that has caused the disease to shrink over the last decade and increase investment to help reach universal targets. According to a report released by the World Health Organisation (WHO) in December last year, the number of deaths due to malaria declined by more than 25 per cent in the past decade, with a 33 per cent reduction in mortality rates in Africa. Chambers said he was optimistic about eliminating the disease as there had been a lot of progress to date. He also noted there would be a new vaccine by 2015 that could be 50 per cent more effective than current ones. However, he underscored the crucial role of funding to continue the work on the ground.