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Malaria campaign calls for a bednet for every African child |
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| Wednesday, 13 October 1999: Sixty
million African families will be provided with insecticide-treated mosquito
nets over the next five years. This is part of a massive effort by development
agencies and public/private partnerships to protect children from often-fatal
bouts of malaria. "Today, we challenge the world to provide every child in Africa with an insecticide-treated bednet," said Dr David Nabarro, project manager for Roll Back Malaria in the World Health Organization. "Our first step toward this goal is to achieve a 30-fold increase in the number of treated nets available and in use over the next five years. After consulting with a wide range of partners and bednet experts, we believe that this goal is possible." The announcement was made today following discussions at the conference on "Insecticide-Treated Nets in the 21st Century" attended by bednet manufacturers, researchers and donors in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, and sponsored by the Government of United Republic of Tanzania, UNICEF, WHO, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and the UK- backed Malaria Consortium. "It is scandalous that 700,000 African children died last year from malaria when a US $4 bed net could have saved them," said David Alnwick, chief of health for UNICEF. "Children living in malaria endemic parts of the world have a right to be protected from the potentially fatal bites of mosquitoes." While it is uncertain how many African households have and use bednets, the number is likely to be as low as two million. This low availability is alarming. Evidence shows that treated nets can cut malaria deaths by nearly a quarter. A recent review of bednet studies conducted by the UK-based Cochrane Collaboration found that that those children who slept under treated bednets were 50 percent less likely to develop malaria illness, compared to control groups. The nets were treated in synthetic pyrethroids, a substance derived from a plant common in East Africa that is safe for humans and environmentally- friendly. Malaria control experts at the conference said that a number of strategies will be used for increasing the availability of bednets, including:
Commercial marketing strategies are also expected to play a major role in increasing the availability, usage and retreatment of bed nets. It is estimated that with social marketing campaigns combined with subsidies, the price for a treated bednet could be lowered to as little as $2.00, making bednets an affordable and desirable purchase for even the poorest of families. Development agencies are stepping forward to rapidly expand the availability of bednets. According to Dennis Carroll of USAID: "We are prepared to use our resources to encourage private institutions to work in partnership with the public sector to meet this bednet challenge." "The World Bank is eager to support countries with sound strategies for ensuring the availability and proper use of treated bednets," said Ok Pannenborg, sector leader for Health, Nutrition and Population for the African Region at the World Bank. "An essential part of reducing poverty in Africa involves protecting the health of families so they can be self-sufficient." Malaria is transmitted through the bite of an infected anopheline mosquito, which is most active between dusk and dawn. The disease kills 1.1 million people worldwide each year. Approximately one million of these deaths are in Africa; an estimated 700,000 of them among children. These malaria deaths account for one out of every four childhood deaths in Africa. Roll Back Malaria is a global movement including both political leaders and ordinary citizens from malaria-ridden countries, the World Health Organization, UNICEF, UNDP the World Bank, development agencies, scientific institutions, private sector bodies and governments worldwide. The diverse partnership seeks to halve the world's malaria burden by the year 2010 through a variety of means, including wider use of bednets. "Africa's leaders are calling for more action to reduce malaria suffering," said Ebrahim Samba, Director of the WHO Regional Office for Africa. "Africa stands to gain the most from Roll Back Malaria. We who are in the African region must do our utmost to make it succeed." |
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| Please email media@unicef.org with comments or requests for more information, quoting "malaria". |
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