Africa urged to make big push to defeat malaria on continent

Africa has been urged to make big push to defeat malaria on the continent which still remains most affected by malaria.

African officials noted that Africa continues to account for 82 percent of malaria cases and 90 percent of malaria deaths worldwide though the continent has made tremendous achievements in addressing the problem over the last decade.

These came on Saturday at a session organized on the premises of the AU Headquarters in Ethiopia's capital Addis Ababa, in connection with the World Malaria Day, which is commemorated this year under the global theme, "Invest in the future: defeat malaria. "

As Africa commemorates this year's Day, it is important that we remind ourselves of the necessity to continue investment in the fight against malaria so that we will be able to save more lives, noted Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn of Ethiopia in his message presented through Kesetebirhan Admasu, the country's Minister of Heath.

During the last decade, malaria control in Africa has been a major success story, whereby a dramatic decrease shown in the incidence of the disease worldwide, and particularly in Africa, in the years between 2000 and 2013, said the premier.

Mustapha S. Kaloko, AU Commissioner for Social Affairs, stated that Africa has made remarkable progress in responding to malaria on the continent.

Increased political commitment and expanded fund have helped to reduce malaria incidence by 34 percent in Africa, said Kaloko.

"In spite of these tremendous results, Africa continues to account for 82 percent of malaria cases and 90 percent of malaria deaths worldwide," said the commissioner.

"We need the big push for two reasons; one is existing funding gaps for malaria which are estimated at approximately 972 million U.S. dollars in 2015; this threatens to reverse the gains already achieved in the past decade,"

"The second reason, malaria causes out-of-pocket expenditure for households and loss of productivity to the economy resulting in massive losses to economic growth, with an estimated cost of 12 billion dollars each year in lost productivity in Africa alone," he noted.

The 2015 continental World Malaria Day is commemorated under the global theme, "Invest in the future: defeat malaria," to emphasize the centrality of continued investment in health systems and community systems, says the AU.

The theme resonates with a previous decision and roadmap of the pan-African bloc for shared responsibility and global solidarity to accelerate innovative domestic financing and to ensure sustained and predictable funding, according to the AU. Endi