Swaziland: Set to Eliminate Malaria

I’m another new addition to the policy team here at ONE, and will be sharing updates on global health and human development with you here on the ONE Blog. As my first post, I wanted to share some great news: According to health experts, Swaziland is poised to eliminate malaria. This would make Swaziland the second country in the “Southern African Development Community” (SADC) to eliminate malaria. (Mauritius was the first, with its last case of reported malaria in 1997.)

Swaziland has successfully reduced malaria cases from 45,000 in 2000, to below 10,000 in 2007. The success has prompted the Global Fund to allocate millions more dollars ($13.9 million in fact) earlier this month towards scaled-up elimination programs in the country.

While this news is still preliminary, it could mark a substantial achievement for this small African country, and for the global health community as a whole. If the disease remains eliminated in Swaziland for three consecutive years, the World Health Organization will certify the country a malaria-free zone.

The release of the “Global Malaria Action Plan” just a few weeks ago in New York has provided a real blueprint for eliminating malaria deaths worldwide. There have been many successes in the fight against malaria in the past few years, now with Swaziland as an addition to that list, showing that eliminating deaths is within reach if donors fully fund the Global Malaria Action Plan.

-Rena Pacheco-Theard

Breaking News: $3 Billion in New Malaria Funding!!

Reporting to you live from outside the 2008 MDG Malaria Summit…

At the 2008 MDG Malaria Summit in New York today, global leaders in health, government and business announced over $3 billion in new malaria money to help spur the world toward ending malaria deaths by 2015 - making it the single biggest day for malaria announcements in the history of the fight against the disease.

Speakers including Bono, Gordon Brown, Bill Gates, President Kagame of Rwanda and President Kikwete of Tanzania discussed how far the world has come in recent years to combat malaria and how far we still have to go. Peter Chernin, President and COO of News Corporation and Malaria No More Chairman, helped moderate the event, adding that malaria is not an isolated disease but both a consequence and cause of extreme poverty.

Two of the biggest announcements were from the World Bank and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. Robert Zoellick, President of the World Bank, announced $1.1 billion as funding for Phase II of the World Bank Booster Program and Rajat Gupta, Chair of the Global Fund, announced Round 8 funding recommendations for malaria control efforts totaling $1.62 billion.

In celebrating the new commitments, grassroots support and political will that is driving the worldwide effort to end malaria deaths, event host UN Special Envoy for Malaria Ray Chambers urged the community not to become complacent. While today represents a big step forward, the race to end deaths - 3,000 children every day - is far from over.

For more information on the event and commitments, visit www.MalariaNoMore.org.

-Emily Bergantino, Communications Officer, Malaria No More

Coming Today: The Largest Ever Funding Announcements For Fighting Malaria

World leaders have descended upon the United Nations this week for the 63rd annual plenary session of the General Assembly and the malaria community is all abuzz with excitement (pun absolutely intended). A major focus of this week’s events at the UN will be the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015, including defeating malaria.

Malaria nearly 1 million people a year - mostly children in Africa - but increased funding and political will in recent years have put the world in a position to radically reduce deaths by 2015. Malaria is a key component to achieving the MDGs, as it affects so many of them (5 of 8). The elimination of malaria would boost school attendance, dramatically improve maternal and infant health, free up an estimated 40% of hospital beds in Africa to care for other sicknesses such as HIV/AIDS, and unlock billions in development potential in Africa. There can be no breakthrough in Africa without first addressing the malaria crisis.

Luckily, the crisis is due to be addressed this week in New York, as world leaders gather on Thursday for the 2008 MDG Malaria Summit for the single biggest day of funding announcements in the history of the fight against malaria. Organizing partners Malaria No More, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Department for International Development (UK) and the office of the United Nations Special Envoy for Malaria will be making major announcements toward reaching the target named by the Secretary-General on April 25—that of providing enough mosquito nets and access to medication for every man, woman and child in Africa by December 31, 2010—and the ultimate goal of near-zero malaria deaths by 2015.

It is an ambitious goal but one that can certainly be achieved. The global community will stand together this Thursday to prove that they are committed to it through major initiatives that promise to change the malaria landscape. We’ll act as your fly on the wall at Thursday’s summit and will report back with new commitments from world leaders, corporations and the public sector.

-Emily Bergantino, Malaria No More

Bono On The Passage of PEPFAR

Yesterday afternoon, President Bush signed into law new PEPFAR legislation, finalizing months of work by ONE members, Democratic and Republican congressional leaders, advocacy organizations, foreign policy experts and medical professionals who worked together to pass historic new funding levels to fight AIDS, TB and malaria.

ONE Campaign Co-founder Bono issued this response:

“Americans, whether they know it or not, are literally saving the lives of millions of people in the poorest places on the planet. In the last five years, America has prevented 1 million women from passing on HIV to their babies…funded care for 3 millions AIDS orphans…and provided desperately needed medicine to more than 1.4 million people suffering from HIV/AIDS. You are my heroes and not just for what you’ve done, but for what this new law promises.

This has more to do with hard heads than soft hearts. America’s global AIDS plan has proved to be a smart investment, paying dividends in live saved, communities stabilized and America’s reputation in the world growing a little bit brighter. This stuff works and leaders from left and right — leaders like Senators Biden and Lugar, Representatives Berman and Ros-Lehtinen, President Bush, Speaker Pelosi and Senator Reid - put aside their differences and agreed to do more.”

BedNet Delivery on the Zambezi River

I recently returned from Tete Province, Mozambique, where I helped to distribute bed nets and malaria medications to remote communities on the Zambezi River. I joined the adventurous and ambitious Roll Back Malaria Zambezi Expedition, a two-month voyage tracing Dr. David Livingstone’s trip down the river 150 years ago. The Zambezi Expedition aims to track successes and challenges of controlling malaria in six countries in malaria-endemic southern Africa: Angola, Namibia, Botswana, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Mozambique. I joined toward the end of the Expedition, during which crew members and medical teams have traveled more than 1,550 miles to deliver bed nets and medications to remote areas along the river, many of which are accessible only by boat.

We visited one village near the old colonial Boroma Mission, a few miles upstream from the city of Tete. Though we arrived only the evening before to tell the villagers that we would be coming to deliver bed nets, we found the entire village gathered, health cards in hand, early the next morning when we crossed the river from our campsite. They greeted us with impromptu singing and dancing, incorporating the sting of a mosquito’s bite and malaria’s fever and chills in their movements. One of the village women kept the crowd in gales of laughter as she mimed the mosquito’s treacherous path through the night to the sleeping victim. When we hung a bed net from a nearby tree to demonstrate how to use it, she crawled under it and pretended to sleep soundly and safely to illustrate the point.

The Zambezi Expedition’s goal is to show that coordinated action can force back the spread of malaria and help save millions of lives. As this visit showed, Africans along the Zambezi’s banks are eager to join in the fight against malaria—they have the energy, the drive and the dedication—all they need are the tools. The Expedition has drawn to a close, but the lessons of how international support and local implementation can and must go hand in hand are clear.

To learn more about the Roll Back Malaria Zambezi Expedition, go to
www.zambezi-expedition.org

-Emily Bergantino, Malaria No More

Mutant Mosquitoes to Combat Malaria?

In a plan that may seem better fitted for a Hollywood science-fiction blockbuster, scientists in the UK are exploring a new route in the ongoing fight against malaria: genetically-modified mosquitoes. Malaria kills over 1 million people every year, mostly children.

From the AP:

Millions of bed nets have been handed out, and villages across the continent have been doused with insecticide. But those measures haven’t put a significant dent in most malaria cases…Some scientists think creating mutant mosquitoes resistant to the disease might work better.

[The scientists] are now planning to create sterile male mosquitoes to mate with wild female mosquitoes, thus stunting population growth. They are also trying to engineer a malaria-resistant mosquito.”

There’s definite worth to the classic “if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em” adage, but many wonder if there could be unintended consequences when one “fools with mother nature.”

Lead scientist Andrea Crisanti considers this project one worth the risk.

Crisanti acknowledged there might be unintended consequences of releasing genetically modified mosquitoes into the wild, although he could not predict what they might be.

“I think there is a moral good to doing it” he said. “If we do this right, the mosquitoes will get rid of malaria for us.”

You can read the full piece here.

-Betsy Avila, ONE Intern

$10 Mosquito Nets Catching On Across U.S.

A feature story on the front page of the New York Times today highlights the success of $10 malaria bednet campaigns.

“Donating $10 to buy a mosquito net to save an African child from malaria has become a hip way to show you care, especially for teenagers. The movement is like a modern version of the March of Dimes, created in 1938 to defeat polio, or like collecting pennies for Unicef on Halloween….

Part of what has helped the campaign catch on is its sheer simplicity and affordability — $10 buys one net to save a child. Nothing But Nets, the best-known campaign, has raised $20 million from 70,000 individuals, most of it in donations averaging $60.

That is a small fraction of the overall need, which experts estimate at $2.5 billion. But it gives the effort a populist edge, and participation is psychologically rewarding for anyone whose philanthropic pockets are shallower than those of Bill Gates.”

race against malaria

Todd Jennings, who works for PATH in Zambia, sends us his last post in a series for World Malaria Day.

4-25-2008

The 2008 Race Against Malaria concluded this World Malaria Day morning with all 31 riders arriving safely at the Mukuni Park Grounds in Livingstone. They had a royal reception—literally. Princess Astrid of Belgium shook their hands, followed by Rupiah Banda, the vice president of Zambia; and Yvonne Chaka Chaka, the South African entertainer and Roll Back Malaria representative.  A huge crowd had assembled in Livingstone for this year’s World Malaria Day celebration, which featured loads of VIPs like the above, plus all the health ministers from 14 southern African countries.  All gave a mighty applause when the cyclists entered the park, especially when everyone learned the riders had covered 1,000 kilometers since Monday. 

Joining the Cycling Association of Zambia for this year’s event was Tour d’Afrique cyclist Irmgard Bush. Because of her personal experience with malaria, she didn’t hesitate when invited to participate: Irmgard almost died of malaria in 2006 while on a marathon tour from Cairo to Cape Town. She suffered a severe bout of malaria and was attended to by medical staff in Mazabuka, Zambia. Since then, Irmgard has been a vocal supporter in the fight against malaria.

Irmgard was the only woman in the Race Against Malaria, and for much of the way she pedaled on a tandem with national cycling coach Peter Chintu, the rider featured in an earlier posting on this blog. In this audio clip, Peter talks about this year’s experience.

-Todd Jennings, Advocacy Officer, Malaria Control and Evaluation Partnership in Africa (MACEPA), a program at PATH, Lusaka, Zambia.

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Clinton, McCain, & Obama Talk Malaria Today

Today - on World Malaria Day - all three major presidential candidates reiterated their commitments to fight malaria worldwide.

You can check out Clinton’s statement here, McCain’s here, and Obama’s statement should be live here shortly.

The three - Senators Clinton, McCain and Obama - had already told us their plans as part of ONE’s “On The Record” campaign last December.

-Virginia Simmons

How Well Do You Know Your Malaria Facts?

April 25 is the First World Malaria Day.

You probably know that malaria is spread through mosquitoes, but did you know that it has been used as a treatment for syphilis?

Malaria has been with us a long time and had some interesting roles in history—playing major parts in everything from economic development to military battles. See how much you know about malaria and how much you know about ways you can fight malaria. (Challenge yourself—try to answer all the questions in 30 seconds.)

.

1. All of the following US Presidents had malaria except:

a. George Washington
b. John F. Kennedy
c. Franklin Roosevelt
d. Abraham Lincoln

2. During the American Civil War, malaria accounted for how many estimated deaths?

a. 5,000
b. 8,000
c. 10,000
d. 15,000

3. The types of mosquitoes responsible for malaria transmission in the U.S. are still widely prevalent here, meaning malaria could be reintroduced in the U.S.

True or False?

4. About how many people are infected with malaria annually?

a. 20-40 thousand
b. 600-800 thousand
c. 100-200 million
d. 300-500 million

5.President Franklin Roosevelt assembled a panel of experts to evaluate the economic impact of malaria in the US. They concluded that malaria reduced the output of southern states by:

a. 11%
b. 25%
c. 33%
d. 47%

6. It’s estimated that malaria reduces the Gross Domestic Product of some African countries by:

a. 10%
b. 20%
c. 30%
d. 40%

7. What percent of the research budget of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the American government’s biomedical research center, is spent on malaria research for things like new treatments, better prevention, and a vaccine?

a. 0%
b. 0.3%
c. 4.7%
d. 9.2%

8. Challenges in malaria control include which of the following?

a. Rapid spread of antimalarial drug resistance, i.e., current drugs lose effectiveness and new drugs are continually needed.
b. Poverty
c. Increased resistance of vector mosquitoes to insecticides (pyrethroid & DDT)
d. Lack of an effective vaccine
e. All of the above.

.

For answers and explanations please click here.

-Christine Kim, Families USA, Global Health Initiative