to drastically reduce the burden of malaria in Africa received a
boost, yesterday, with the World Bank committing US$1.1 Billion to
combat malaria in Nigeria and the Republic of Congo.
This is even as Nigeria, on its
part has increased the annual allocation for malaria control up to the
sum of N1.5 billion in order to achieve the objective of eradicating
the disease totally.
As a take-off of the programme,
the World Bank launched Phase 11 of its malaria booster programme on
Wednesday in Abuja, in a joint effort with the country’s Ministry of
Health.
The World Bank Group president,
Robert B. Zoellick, while disclosing the amount on the occasion, said
the new financial commitment would help African countries over the
next three years to expand their malaria prevention, care, and
treatment programmes, and to sharply reduce the number of malaria-
related deaths and illness that afflict their communities each year.
He said, "Malaria is a crushing
development burden for poor people and developing countries, which the
World Bank is committed to fighting for as long as it takes to get it
under control. Malaria preys on the poor and keeps them poor. Poverty
prevents people from buying bed-nets to prevent malaria and medicine
to cure it. When people are struck by the disease, parents miss work;
children miss school; and malaria emergencies plunge families into
debt from which they can’t recover."
He said that, apart from this
gesture, the World Bank was ready to commit more resources to the
battle against malaria, not only in Nigeria, but Africa as a whole
while calling on the joint effort of African leaders in the
eradication of the disease from the continent.
Speaking also alongside the
Ministers of Health, a World Bank vice president and country director,
leaders from the Roll Back Malaria partnership and the Global Fund, as
well as Ray Chambers, United Nations Special Envoy for Malaria,
welcomed the new commitment from the World Bank and said Phase 11 of
the Booster Programme will have a major impact in Africa’s
malaria-endemic countries
In her address, the World Bank
vice president for the Africa Region, Dr. Obiageli Ezekwesili said the
Booster Programme would redouble it’s effort and work to support
health systems as they prevent and treat malaria
She said, "Through efforts of
the World Bank and our partners over the last few years, we are
beginning to reduce malaria deaths in some countries. Phase of the
Booster Programme aims to save more lives, improve health systems and
help countries work together to stop the spread of this disease."
Earlier, while declaring open
the launch, Vice President Goodluck Jonathan said that with a vision
to have a malaria- free, the federal government, through the Federal
Ministry of Health, led by Dr. Mohammed Hassan has revised her
National Malaria Control Strategy to scale up impact against malaria,
which implies achieving high coverage of effective malaria control.
He said that it was gratifying
to note that Global Fund determination to fight AIDS, tuberculosis and
malaria, recently announced it has approved Round 8 of the Global Fund
grant to the tune of close to US$600Million in the next five years to
fight malaria in Nigeria as well as US$200 Million for health system
strengthening.
The vice president said if
malaria scourge is to be controlled and ultimately eliminated,
interventions must be comprehensive and holistic, adding that
sustained financing must be made available and community involvement
and leadership must be encouraged alongside strong national and
regional partnership.
The Phase 11 of the Malaria
Booster Programme will work to expand bed net distribution, provide
treatment to the rural poor and improve health systems in the
Democratic Republic of Congo and Nigeria.