Malaria

We are at a pivotal and exciting time in the fight against malaria. Advances in treatment and prevention, along with rigorous planning and goal-setting by countries and key implementing partners, gives us optimism that malaria deaths can be brought to near-zero by the end of 2015. Continued progress will require adequate financing and effective implementation of existing prevention and control measures, diagnostics and treatment as well as support for research and development to develop new tools.

Malaria is a disease of the blood that is caused by a parasite transmitted from person to person by certain types of mosquitoes. Malaria symptoms, which appear about 9 to 14 days after the infectious mosquito bite, include fever, headache, vomiting and other flu-like symptoms. If drugs are not available for treatment or if the parasites are resistant to the available drugs, the infection can lead to coma, severe life-threatening anemia, or death, through infection and destruction of red blood cells and by clogging the capillaries that carry blood to the brain (cerebral malaria) or other vital organs. Worldwide, malaria is expected to be the cause of death for 438,000 people in 2015, the majority of which are in children under the age of five.

Any child’s death is a tragedy. The fact that over 1,300 children die from malaria every single day should keep all of us focused on the work needed to bring these deaths to an end.

Target

Reduce annual malaria deaths to near-zero by the end of 2015.

Situation

For the malaria component of MDG 6, we must lower annual deaths from the disease to near-zero levels (defined as under 100,000) through the universal provision of life-saving interventions, specifically long-lasting insecticidal nets (LLIN) and artemisinin-based combination therapy (ACT). To achieve the malaria component of MDG 6, we will continue toward the universal provision of malaria commodities – primarily in Africa, but also with attention to Asia and the newly formed Asian Pacific Leaders Malaria Alliance – specifically LLINs and ACTs, by ensuring the availability of financing through the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria and continued annual approvals for the President’s Malaria Initiative.

Approach

The UN Special Envoy's Office believes we must successfully execute two primary prevention and treatment strategies in order to achieve the Malaria target. For prevention, principally through universal coverage of LLINs and/or Indoor Residual Spraying (IRS), we will reduce annual deaths to 309,000 remaining per year. The remaining 309,000 deaths will need to be reduced through broader treatment coverage via ACTs. Seventy percent coverage of ACTs will be required to achieve the necessary reduction and will need to come from both public and private sector distribution of ACTs.

To achieve these results, it is critical that the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria realizes full replenishment and that malaria receives the necessary distribution of the Global Fund’s assets at the country level. Additionally, other donors such as the President's Malaria Initiative (PMI )and the UK's DFID must continue their current levels of support for malaria.

The African Leaders Malaria Alliance (ALMA) will continue to play an important role in the reduction of malaria deaths through its leadership and ALMA Scorecard to (a) drive continued political commitment to Malaria, (b) monitor progress across key indicators that affect the financing procurement, delivery and utilization of LLINs and IRS and (c) respond to potential/emerging challenges, such as the need to ensure continued delivery of ACTs through the private sector.

Finally, the UN Special Envoy's Office will support the efforts of its partners across the malaria community and country governments to ensure that countries are able to procure the adequate levels of LLINs and ACTs, as well as insecticide and RDTs - while at the same time ensuring that the procured products are delivered and used effectively.

 

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