3 November 2009
editorial
Nairobi — The ongoing international malaria conference in Nairobi is arguably one of the biggest such meetings to be held over a single disease in Africa.
The conference has not only attracted a huge number of scholars -- about 3,000 -- but almost 1,000 scientific presentations will be made.This is a clear indication of the prevailing global goodwill to deal with a disease that has remained one of the biggest health drawbacks on the continent.
It is even better news that increased global attention on the disease has resulted in a dramatic reduction of malaria in most parts of the world.
Efforts to fight the disease in Kenya are said to have reduced childhood deaths by 44 per cent and halved hospital admissions for the same age group.
This is no mean achievement and all efforts must be made to sustain the momentum.
In fact, the ministries of health are no longer talking of reducing the disease, but of eradicating it altogether.
This new direction will be spelt out in a new malaria strategic plan to be released by the ministries of health on Wednesday.
While the results are good so far, a lot more needs to be done considering that both the malaria vector and the parasite have for years proven very versatile, managing to outwit new inventions at almost every turn.
While it is evident that the current goodwill may not be there forever, it is imperative that it be used well and in an innovative manner while it lasts.
One way to do so is to avoid duplication of research programmes, where priority is given to the most viable and beneficial studies while cutting down grants' managing agencies.
Such moves could cut on financial as well as human resource wastage while delivering crucial products and services much more quickly.
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