Governments, businesses and other groups have promised to add three
billion dollars to the fight against malaria. The promises came last
month at a meeting at the United Nations in New York.
The money will support a new Global Malaria Action Plan. The plan aims to stop the disease in Africa by two thousand fifteen. Malaria is not limited to Africa. Yet ninety percent of deaths happen south of the Sahara. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown says the plan will not only support bed nets, but research, cutting drug costs and expanding health care systems.
Governments and international groups spent a billion dollars on malaria programs last year. But the Roll Back Malaria Partnership says the world should spend more than five times that amount. It says doing so could save four million lives by twenty-fifteen. The partnership includes U.N. agencies, the World Bank and leading drug makers.
Last month, the World Health Organization released its World Malaria Report for two thousand eight. The report presented sharply lower estimates of malaria cases than in the past. Officials say the corrections were mostly the result of better methods of collecting information.
Until now, the W.H.O. has said there were as many as five hundred million infections every year, with a million deaths. The new report estimates the number of malaria cases in two thousand six at about two hundred fifty million. And, it estimates the number of deaths at eight hundred eighty-one thousand. The great majority who die are young children.
The report says malaria deaths have decreased in several countries, and a few African nations have reduced deaths by half. Yet the malaria drugs needed for what is known as artemisinin-based combination therapy reached only three percent of African children in need.
In the last two years, there have been greatly increased efforts to provide families with bed nets. These nets are treated with insecticide products to kill the mosquitoes that spread malaria. Campaigns for indoor spraying of insecticides in homes have also increased in Africa and other areas.
The money will support a new Global Malaria Action Plan. The plan aims to stop the disease in Africa by two thousand fifteen. Malaria is not limited to Africa. Yet ninety percent of deaths happen south of the Sahara. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown says the plan will not only support bed nets, but research, cutting drug costs and expanding health care systems.
Governments and international groups spent a billion dollars on malaria programs last year. But the Roll Back Malaria Partnership says the world should spend more than five times that amount. It says doing so could save four million lives by twenty-fifteen. The partnership includes U.N. agencies, the World Bank and leading drug makers.
Last month, the World Health Organization released its World Malaria Report for two thousand eight. The report presented sharply lower estimates of malaria cases than in the past. Officials say the corrections were mostly the result of better methods of collecting information.
Until now, the W.H.O. has said there were as many as five hundred million infections every year, with a million deaths. The new report estimates the number of malaria cases in two thousand six at about two hundred fifty million. And, it estimates the number of deaths at eight hundred eighty-one thousand. The great majority who die are young children.
The report says malaria deaths have decreased in several countries, and a few African nations have reduced deaths by half. Yet the malaria drugs needed for what is known as artemisinin-based combination therapy reached only three percent of African children in need.
In the last two years, there have been greatly increased efforts to provide families with bed nets. These nets are treated with insecticide products to kill the mosquitoes that spread malaria. Campaigns for indoor spraying of insecticides in homes have also increased in Africa and other areas.
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Translated by: Buasawan Simmala
