7th African malaria dayStatement by Mr. Youssouf Oomar, Resident Representative Abidjan, 27 April 2007 • Honourable Minister of Health and Public Hygiene, The 7th African Malaria Day offers us another opportunity to meet in the field, meetings we highly appreciate as they bring us closer to the community we are serving. However, today’s meeting is of special significance, as it concerns the most common disease, a disease that is the biggest killer of children and pregnant women in Côte d’Ivoire and throughout sub-Saharan Africa. Each year, 350 - 500 million cases of malaria are reported worldwide, and more than one million deaths, over 90% of which occur in sub-Saharan Africa. Malaria kills one person every 30 seconds in sub-Saharan Africa alone. At the economic level, it is estimated that an amount of 12 billion dollars of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is lost annually, whereas part of this amount would have been enough to eliminate malaria. These very serious figures pose a great challenge to us and invite us to perform some objective self criticism if we want to achieve our goals and those of the millennium. Côte d’Ivoire is seriously affected by this disease, which constitutes the first cause of mortality in children: out of 700,000 children born each year in Côte d’Ivoire, nearly 82,000 die before the age of one year and more than 27,000 die from malaria before reaching the age of one year. The disease is transmitted virtually in every month of the year. The resistance in more than 63% of cases of the parasite to chloroquine, the cheapest and most readily available drug, is aggravating the situation. That is why we commend the signing by the Minister of Health and Public Hygiene of the Ministerial Decree on 2 January 2007 instituting a therapeutic scheme for treating malaria in accordance with international requirements and banning at the same time the use of chloroquine on the entire territory of Côte d’Ivoire. For UNICEF, malaria control has been upgraded to the rank of major priorities. Included at all levels of the annual cooperation programme, our actions are multiple and supported by national and international advocacy for intensification of the fight against this scourge up to the integration of these activities at all levels, notably the community level. This year, and more than previously, the fight against this scourge has registered a significant acceleration with the establishment of the Child Survival Strategy, which should enable us, through the application of low cost/high impact intervention packages on the reduction of infant mortality to achieve the millennium goals. Without making an exhaustive assessment of these actions, we can mention: 1) The distribution at the end of 2006, thanks to funding from the Government of Japan, to whom we express our sincerest gratitude, of 360,000 long-lasting insecticide-treated bed nets in 38 health districts covered by UNICEF at a cost of more than USD 1,900,000 or about CFAF 950,000,000. 2) The supply of 38 districts in 2007 with new treatments against this disease at a cost of USD 116,400 or more than CFAF 58,000,000, which made it possible to treat 52,200 patients. This treatment is integrated into the health and cost recovery system, costs CFAF 1,300 to the citizen, a price well below its cost price and very low compared to prices charged in the pharmacies. 3) The Japanese Cooperation will also help to purchase and distribute, in 2007, 313,000 new long-lasting insecticide-treated bed nets for a total cost of USD 2,100,000 or about CFAF 1.5 billion. These bed nets are intended for the 41 health districts covered by UNICEF, which will distribute them free-of-charge to fully-vaccinated children under one year and to pregnant women upon their first prenatal consultation. 4) The conduct in 2007 of a study on the acceptance of the insecticide-treated bed net at a cost of more than CFAF 4,600,000. 5) Besides, a major resource mobilization campaign was initiated this year in the framework of the Child Survival Strategy in a bid to satisfy in the short term all the needs in bed nets and medicines according to the new system of the country. However, it must be observed that we are far from our aspirations in the fight against this scourge and the slogan for this year is justifiably quite urgent: “Roll Back Malaria, Now”. Indeed, we have waited and even waited too much to the detriment of the thousands of deaths, especially of women and children; but, it is not too late and we sincerely believe that the following main measures, which we could put in place through the accelerated child survival and development strategy will be able to significantly reduce this scourge. They are: First of all, the establishment of the widest possible partnership. In this regard, we also commend the support of the Global Fund for the efforts to combat this disease in Côte d’Ivoire. The Fund has, for the first time agreed to finance malaria control activities in Côte d’Ivoire for the next 5 years. Secondly, the generalization of the new drug association, which requires on the part of the Ministry of Health and Public Hygiene the implementation of a bold and imperative programme to enforce the Decree of 2 January 2007, by imposing the prescription of the new treatment on all practitioners and withdrawing the large quantities of chloroquine available everywhere, including in public structures. Thirdly, a generalization of the use of insecticide-treated bed nets, which alone can help reduce by 25% the number of malaria-related deaths in children under 5 years. Fourthly, the generalization of the intermittent treatment of pregnant woman, the desinsectization and behaviour change in the face of the disease, which does not need to be fatal. The 7th African Malaria Day should unite all our voices to say, surely malaria is a deadly disease, but it can be treated and prevented. Allow me, Honourable Minister, to take this opportunity to thank the Japanese Government and the European Union, as well as all the other donor agencies for their generosity and concrete commitment on our side in the fight against malaria. Thank You.
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