Malaria Deaths can end by 2015:Ray Chambers (Secretory General's special Envoy for Malaria)

A massive scale-up in malaria control programmes between 2008 and 2010 has resulted in the provision of enough Insecticide-Treated mosquitoNets (ITNs) to protect more than 578 million people at risk of malaria

in sub-Saharan Africa. Indoor residual spraying has also protected 75million people, or 10 per cent of the population at risk in 2009. TheWorld malaria report 2010 describes how the drive to provide access to anti-malarial interventions to all those who need them, called for by theUN Secretary-General in 2008, is producing results.In Africa, a total of 11 countries showed a greater than 50% reductionin either confirmed malaria cases or malaria admissions and deaths over the past decade. A decrease of more than 50% in the number of confirmed cases of malaria was also found in 32 of the 56 malaria-endemiccountries outside Africa during this same time period, while downward trends of 25%-50% were seen in eight additional countries. Morocco

and Turkmenistan were certified by the Director-General of WHO in

2009 as having eliminated malaria. In 2009, the WHO European Region

reported no cases of Plasmodium falciparum malaria for the first time.

The WHO Director-General, Dr Margaret Chan, highlighted the

transformation that is taking place, "The results set out in this report

 are the best seen in decades. After so many years of deterioration
and stagnation in the malaria situation, countries and their development
 partners are now on the offensive. Current strategies work."
"The phenomenal expansion in access to malaria control interventions
 is translating directly into lives saved, as the WHO World malaria
 report 2010 clearly indicates," said Ray Chambers, the UN
Secretary-General's Special Envoy for Malaria. "The strategic
 scale-up that is eroding malaria's influence is a critical step in the effort
 to combat poverty-related health threats. By maintaining these essential
gains, we can end malaria deaths by 2015."
The strategies to fight malaria continue to evolve. Earlier this year, WHO
 recommended that all suspected cases of malaria be confirmed by a
diagnostic test before anti-malarial drugs are administered. It is no
longer appropriate to assume that every person with a fever has malaria
and needs anti-malarial treatment. Inexpensive, quality-assured rapid
 diagnostic tests are now available that can be used by all health care
 workers, including at peripheral health facilities and at the community
 level. Using these tests improves the quality of care for individual
patients, cuts down the over-prescribing of Artemisinin-based
Combination Therapies (ACTs) and guards against the spread
of resistance to these medicines.
While progress in reducing the burden of malaria has been remarkable,
resurgences in cases were observed in parts of at least three African
countries (Rwanda, Sao Tome and Principe, and Zambia). The reasons
 for these resurgences are not known with certainty but illustrate the
 fragility of malaria control and the need to maintain intervention coverage
 even if numbers of cases have been reduced substantially.
The report stressed that while considerable progress has been made,
 much work remains in order to attain international targets for malaria control.
Financial disbursements reached their highest ever levels in 2009 at
 US$ 1.5 billion, but new commitments for malaria control appear
to have levelled-off in 2010, at US$ 1.8 billion. The amounts committed
to malaria, while substantial, still fall short of the resources required for
malaria control, estimated at more than US$ 6 billion for the year 2010.
In 2010, more African households (42%) owned at least one ITN, and
more children under five years of age were using an ITN (35%)
compared to previous years. Household ITN ownership reached
more than 50% in 19 African countries. The percentage of children
 using ITNs is still below the World Health Assembly target of 80%
partly because up to the end of 2009, ITN ownership remained low
 in some of the largest African countries.
The proportion of reported cases in Africa confirmed with a diagnostic
test has risen substantially from less than 5% at the beginning of the
 decade to approximately 35% in 2009, but low rates persist in the
majority of African countries and in a minority of countries in other regions.
By the end of 2009, 11 African countries were providing sufficient courses
of ACTs to cover more than 100% of malaria cases seen in the public
sector; a further 5 African countries delivered sufficient courses to treat
 50%-100% of cases. These figures represent a substantial increase
since 2005, when only five countries were providing sufficient courses
 of ACT to cover more than 50% of patients treated in the public sector.
The number of deaths due to malaria is estimated to have decreased from
 985 000 in 2000 to 781 000 in 2009. Decreases in malaria deaths have
 been observed in all WHO regions, with the largest proportional decreases
 noted in the European Region, followed by the Region of the Americas.
The largest absolute decreases in deaths were observed in Africa.
In summary, the report highlights the importance of maintaining the
 momentum for malaria prevention, control, and elimination that has
 developed over the past decade. While the significant recent gains
are fragile, they must be sustained. It is critical that the international
community ensure sufficient and predictable funding to meet the
ambitious targets set for malaria control as part of the drive to
reach the health-related Millennium Development Goals by 2015.
Source:Pharmabiz