Africa Malaria Day 2003
Remarks by Dr. Anne Peterson
- I want to welcome and thank all our distinguished guests and say what a privilege it is to be here with you to commemorate Africa Malaria Day.
- I would also like to welcome the Ambassadors other distinguished country representatives and our global partners in the Roll Back Malaria Partnership today as we gather to recognize expanded and coordinated response and recommit our efforts.
- Malaria can be either an insidious or a dramatic disease. I’ve personally experienced both. We lived for years in Africa and learned that not only kills outright but in non- endemic areas where people are only intermittently at risk like holidays to coastal areas -- but still …. I… got malaria -- probably when getting up at night to feed my baby daughter.
- It wasn’t so bad for most “Mzungu” – foreigners -- just headaches and chills resolved fairly quickly with medication. And because of that kind of scenario many have not taken malaria so seriously. But my husband did the dramatic version. He went to a known choloroquin resistant area, decided to not take his medicine since the “old timer missionaries” weren’t and as I joking (now) say “He tried to die”. He ended up in hospital on IVs and quinine with resistant malaria. He sometimes claims that he has had 3 sinless days in his life – those worst days of malaria when he was to sick to even think any sinful thoughts! It undermines health and well-being every day of the lives of vulnerable Africans through the effects of anemia and other sequelae of repeated infection and reinfection. The disease burden of malaria has a variety of factors, including intensified and spreading poorly understood factors.
- Malaria affects the health and wealth of nations and individuals alike. In Africa, it is both a disease of poverty and a disease that causes poverty. It is a major constraint to economic development, with significant direct and indirect costs. As a result, the international community has remobilized in the past few years to develop and implement sustainable actions against malaria. Ninety percent of malaria deaths occur in Africa, and the disease accounts for approximately $12 billion a year of lost African gross domestic product.
- Malaria’s greatest impact is felt by very young children in Africa. As much as a quarter of child deaths in endemic areas are attributable to malaria. But infection of women during pregnancy takes a huge toll: on the health of the mother herself and on the development of her unborn child. Placental infection is a significant contributor to low birthweight and subsequent neonatal death. In areas of unstable or epidemic malaria, all persons are at risk of serious illness and death. The drain on the physical and financial resources of households and communities of the disease and often ineffective attempts to respond to it is well documented.
- However, we do have proven tools that can greatly reduce malaria infection and illness. We can take action against malaria. And that is why the Roll Back Malaria partners--leaders from across Africa, African health institutions, WHO, UNICEF, World Bank, bi-lateral agencies, international, national and local NGOs, and the private sector.
- No one agency can do it all. We have developed strong partnerships with many companies, bringing in private dollar action side by side to support public programs. USAID is committed to reaching out beyond our traditional partners to find able and creative organizations, particularly those that are faith-based and community-based.
- And with so many new partners, the coordination of our efforts becomes even more critical. This is as true among the U.S. government agencies as it is among our international partners, including the new Global Fund. Coordination efforts must occur at two levels: at headquarters and in the countries we are assisting. private sector-- have committed to halving Africa's malaria mortality by 2010.
- As Paula noted the U.S. government is doing more than ever before. The Bush administration has made a significant investment in the Global Fund. USAID played a key role in establishing the Secretariat of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria and in creating the Fund’s monitoring and evaluation strategy.
- USAID has played an important role in developing the global initiative Roll Back Malaria. At the regional and national level, USAID activities have established, strengthened, and expanded country programs throughout the world.
- In collaboration with public and private partners, USAID also focuses on developing and testing malaria vaccines through its Malaria Vaccine Development Program. In the latest step forward, field-testing has begun in Kenya of a single-component malaria vaccine.
- During the past year, USAID has supported activities to Roll Back Malaria in Africa through 22 of its missions, and two regional programs as well as numerous PVO projects in Africa. Through central projects and partnerships USAID provides technical assistance, focusing on implementation of key interventions and development of new technologies, approaches and partnerships.
This year USAID’s NetMark Project launched insecticide-treated net products in Zambia, Senegal, Ghana, and Nigeria. This innovative pubic-private partnership to promote ITNs, sold more than 600,000 nets and 500,000 insecticide re-treatments during its first five months of operation. In the coming year NetMark will launch in at least five more countries in Africa. NetMark has formed partnerships with 13 major commercial firms (representing over 80 percent of the global capacity to produce and distribute ITNs) to share the risks of developing ITN markets, to identify and reduce barriers to effective engagement of the commercial sector , and to create demand, thereby expanding the availability of affordable ITNs. This effort, joined with that of the many Roll Back Malaria partners to scale-up ITN access and use throughout Africa , can reduce malaria deaths by one million annually. We hope that this successful cooperation with the commercial sector for insecticide-treated netting will serve as a model for future cooperation with the commercial sector in other parts of the world and with other health related products.
- USAID is also supporting technical and strategic innovation to scale-up effective treatment of malaria illness and interventions in pregnancy through its Malaria Action Coalition. Again the watchwords are technical excellence, innovation and partnership.
USAID invests in development of new tools, particularly vaccine development and the response to increasing drug resistance. USAID is also addressing malaria in humanitarian emergencies which are estimated to account for up to 30 percent of Africa’s malaria deaths in the midst of war, civil strife, food shortages, or large population displacements.
- There is much to do. If we are to meet our goal of halving Malaria by 2010, all of us, our esteemed partners from African governments, health institutions and our global partners must act together through the opportunity offered by the Global Fund and through the Roll Back Malaria partnership at all levels, most importantly in countries, to deliver the tools we have in hand, to develop new tools, and to fulfill the promise of coordinated and concerted support to countries.
Thank you.
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