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Zambia: Country, Russia Sign $7m Malaria Grant
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The Times of Zambia (Ndola)
1 May 2008
Posted to the web 1 May 2008
Ndola
ZAMBIA and Russia yesterday signed a US$7 million grant for the malaria national support programme.
Health Minister, Brian Chituwo, said yesterday that the fund, to be administered through the World Bank, would help scale up malaria interventions in the country.
Dr Chituwo said the grant would greatly contribute to regional efforts in controlling the killer disease.
The minister was speaking during the signing ceremony in Lusaka.
He said part of the money would be invested in human resource development to equip health personnel with skills in the provision of quality heathcare.
Dr Chituwo said the focus of the Zambian Government was on boosting the malaria control measures and working towards the elimination of malaria in the region and the world over.
"I have no doubt that the Russian trust fund will not only assist the Zambian Government in scaling up interventions but will contribute towards our regional efforts to control malaria," he said.
He said the national malaria control programme, which was established to deal with malaria issues, was committed to facilitating equal access to quality and cost-effective malaria control and prevention interventions.
Dr Chituwo said he was happy that many health facilities now had a regular supply of anti-malarial drugs and increased coverage of insecticide treated nets.
Russian Ambassador to Zambia, Anvar Azimov, said the Russian government was happy with the achievements Zambia had made in the fight against malaria.
Dr Azimov said Russia was committed to supporting health and education sectors, which greatly benefitted the Zambian people.
The envoy said next year, Russia would set aside about US$5 billion to go towards the education, health and energy support projects in developing countries such as Zambia.
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He said the funds under the Russian Development Agency Aid had been introduced to improve the lives of people in developing countries.
Speaking at the same function, World Bank country manager, Kapil Kapoor, said the bank estimated the economic impact of malaria on the Zambian economy at approximately 1.5 per cent of the Gross Domestic Product every year.
He said the bank, which had been tasked to spearhead the malaria fund, was happy with the determination the Zambian Government had shown in dealing with malaria cases.
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| Copyright © 2008 The Times of Zambia. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections -- or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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