Leadership (Abuja)
Chika Otuchikere
21 September 2008
As the World Health Organisation WHO continues to break new grounds in finding a lasting solution to the malaria scourge, a lot still needs to be done, so says a recent report.
The WHO report, released yesterday by WHO, says the global burden of malaria remains enormous, noting that access to malaria control interventions, especially bed nets in Africa, increased sharply between 2004 and 2006.
"With dramatic increases in funding and intense momentum towards reducing the malaria burden in recent years, we have a greater need for reliable information and analysis," WHO Director-General Margaret Chan, was quoted as saying in the report.
"This report begins to answer that need. Progress in malaria control has accelerated dramatically since 2006, especially in the wake of the UN Secretary General's call for universal malaria control coverage by the end of 2010," it said.
The WHO's World Malaria Report 2008, which draws upon data collected through 2006, estimated the number of malaria cases in 2006 to be 247 million.
"Small children remain by far the most likely to die of the disease.
Malaria related deaths have declined in several countries, and a few nations in Africa have managed to cut malaria deaths in half by following recommended measures.
"As of 2006, increases in funding resulted in accelerated access of malaria interventions, including bed nets and effective medicines.
"Access in Africa to Artemisinin-based Combination Therapy (ACT), which is recommended by WHO, reached only 3 per cent of children in need," the report said.
The report said that recent increases in malaria funding were beginning to translate to coverage of key malaria interventions, especially bed nets.
The report, however, noted that much more work remained to be done. "In Africa , only 125 million people were protected by bed nets in 2007, while 650 million are at risk," it said.
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