The UN secretary general has called on the international community to urgently increase investment in both research and health programmes in order to defeat malaria. About 781,000 people annually, most of them young children, still die from this terrible but preventable and treatable disease.
In a message to mark this year’s World Malaria Day on 25 April, UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon added that human capacity in malaria-endemic countries also needed to be built up.
“Our continued success depends on the hard work and dedication of these unsung heroes,” he said. “And let us recognise that a world free of the burden of malaria will be a safer and healthier world for all.”
Ban stressed that the UN goal of a near-zero deaths from malaria by 2015 – less than four years from now – would not materialise unless there is an “extraordinary intensification of our actions”.
Those activities, he said, must include “scaling up the life-saving and cost-effective interventions that have already produced such dramatic results. We need to ensure universal coverage for all people at risk.
“Second, providing timely testing for all persons suspected of having malaria, and effective treatment for those confirmed to have the disease.”
However, Ban said these efforts by themselves would not guarantee a successful fight against the disease.
“Parasite resistance to our best anti-malarial medicines is a major threat,” he said. “We must respond by implementing our global plan to overcome such resistance.”
Ban reminded the international community that malaria “is a leading killer of children under five years of age”.
Success in the fight against malaria, he said, “is crucial to improving the health of women and children around the world, especially in Africa, and in generating progress towards the health-related Millennium Development Goals.”
Nevertheless, he said a lot has been achieved in the fight against malaria.
“There is much to celebrate. Since 2008, more than 600 million Africans have been spared terrible suffering thanks to the distribution of more than 300 million long-lasting insecticide-treated mosquito nets. In 2009, 75 million people also benefited from indoor residual spraying with safe and effective insecticides.
“Together with improved testing and treatment, these measures have saved nearly 750,000 lives over the past decade,” he added.
