Moshi — THREE parliamentarians from the House of Commons in the United Kingdom have expressed optimism that Tanzania is set to become a frontrunner in the fight against the spread of malaria in Africa.

The legislators, Jeremy Lefroy, Richard Bacon and John Mann representing Stafford, South Norfolk and Nottinghamshire constituencies respectively, are members of a Parliamentary Committee on Malaria, Tropical Diseases and Agriculture.

The trio, according to Mr Lefroy, was in Arusha to see the manufacturing of insecticide treated mosquito nets (ITNs) at A to Z Industries Limited and a Development Project being carried at Machare Estate intended to set out modalities on coffee improvement techniques.

He told a press conference at the office of Equity for Tanzania, which is an entity for financing business growth, that to effectively fight malaria, real investment was a prerequisite, adding that it was important to stick to diagnostic method. Mr Lefroy was concerned over some people who have been harbouring false hopes that malaria has been wiped out, a complacency which may make them careless in the prevalence of malaria.

Mr Bacon said what they saw at A to Z was very impressive and that the ITNs were very efficient, giving an impression that Tanzania was very serious in the on-going fight against further spread of malaria. He said that the fact that malaria cases have dropped, was an indication that campaign against malaria was bearing fruits, adding that because malaria parasite was very versatile, it has to be tackled from all fronts.

Mr Lefroy said Tanzania's success story in the fight against malaria was facilitated by the Global Fund to which UK was a major contributor, contributing 190 million pounds (380bn/-) a year. He added that malaria was endemic in some parts of Europe but it has long been wiped out.

Mr Becon said Malaria affects economies of countries plagued by the disease and congratulated non-governmental organizations and religious institutions for their selfless contribution towards the war against malaria.

Mr Mann said UK was a fore-runner in the support of malaria fight, a programme which has won hearts of all political parties in the UK which was keen at seeing the disbursed funds, for malaria fight, was used for the intended purpose.

Global Fund, which was launched in 2002, is an international financing institution that invests the world's money to save lives. To date, it has committed 22.9 billion US dollars in 151 countries worldwide to support large scale prevention, treatment and care programmes against AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria. The Fund has so far donated 310 million treated mosquito nets in its campaign to wipe out malaria in affected countries world-wide.