Lusaka — HEALTH minister Dr Brian Chituwo has said that the social and economic impact of malaria has prompted the government to make malaria control a priority.
And a new malaria partnership has been announced at the 58th World Health Assembly in Geneva to demonstrate the potential to save lives with existing malaria control interventions and to identify ways African governments can implement malaria control strategies more effectively.
Addressing the 58th World Health Assembly, Dr Chituwo said malaria was responsible for 40 per cent of child deaths in Zambia.
"There is a tremendous need for programmes that work in combating malaria, which kills more than one million people every year, most of them African children," Dr Chituwo said.
"We will control malaria in Zambia and show the world that not only can malaria be controlled, but that it must be controlled now."
The partnership called the Malaria Control and Evaluation Partnership in Africa (MACEPA) is an in-country collaboration between Seattle-based Programme for Appropriate Health in Technology (PATH), the Zambian government, and the Zambia Roll Back Malaria Partnership. MACEPA is aimed at accelerating and documenting the impact of progress toward meeting Zambia's malaria control targets.
The immediate goals of the partnership are to support coordination of rapid scale-up using proven malaria control strategies - including insecticide-treated bed nets, indoor mosquito control, and effective medication - to reach 80 per cent of Zambia's population and to cut malaria deaths by 75 per cent within three years.
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The initiative, which is supported by a new, nine-year US$35 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, will serve as a model for how other African nations can cut malaria deaths dramatically.
MACEPA's global partners include the Roll Back Malaria Partnership Secretariat; the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria; and the World Bank, which are committed to working closely to co-ordinate country programme financing and the provision of technical assistance.
Meanwhile, Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria executive director Richard Feachem said the Zambian people and leaders had shown tremendous resolve in their commitment to controlling and preventing malaria.
"We are confident that this new partnership with PATH will accelerate the country's efforts to save the lives of thousands more of its citizens, and we look forward to continuing to do our part," Feachem said.
