Collective effort will be required to make progress against malaria

The stellar achievements of the Roll Back Malaria Partnership are at risk unless we continue the work saving millions of lives, writes Herve Verhoosel.

Fumigation, such as this campaign in New Delhi, is part of the secret to beating malaria and dengue fever. Photo: Manish Swarup / AP
Powered by automated translation

Some of the world’s leading thinkers will gather in Dubai this week for two important conferences: the World Economic Forum’s Summit on the Global Agenda and the Global Child Forum on the Middle East and North Africa.

Each event represents an opportunity for us to think about what we can do to better deliver on the promises we’ve made to some of the world’s most underserved communities.

Tremendous progress has been made in certain areas: poverty continues to decline, more children than ever are attending primary school, access to safe drinking water has been increased and targeted investments against infectious disease have saved millions of lives. But these advances are partial and fragile.

At this critical time, we are faced with two choices: we can either risk losing the gains we’ve made, or we can restore our commitment to achieving a world less burdened by disease and poverty. I encourage those travelling to Dubai this week to choose the latter.

Take malaria, for example. Since 2000, we’ve seen unprecedented progress against this disease.

With strong coordination by the Roll Back Malaria Partnership, and under the technical leadership of the World Health Organisation, malaria mortality rates have declined by more than 40 per cent globally and by nearly 50 per cent in Africa – where 90 per cent of malaria deaths occur. Since 2001, our efforts have helped save more than 3 million lives.

Over the past 10 years, the number of insecticide-treated nets delivered to communities in Sub-Saharan Africa has increased from 6m to an estimated 200m.

The introduction of rapid diagnostic tests and artemisinin-based combination therapies has revolutionised the way we treat malaria.

These advances offer hope to struggling communities, but our successes hang in the balance.

Malaria continues to cause an estimated 207m cases of infection each year, causing more than 600,000 deaths. Nearly 80 per cent of these are children under the age of five.

Malaria disrupts communities and wrecks lives. And it costs governments and societies billions of dollars. In Africa alone, malaria costs an estimated minimum of $12 billion in lost productivity each year.

While global financing for malaria prevention climbed to $2.5bn in 2012, this still falls short of the $5.1bn that is needed annually.

It is clear that we have the tools to prevent, treat and diagnose malaria. I’ve seen them first-hand in countries from Cambodia to Tanzania. I’ve witnessed the power they have to transform communities.

Take the example of child survival. Since 1990, under-five mortality has been reduced by nearly 50 per cent, meaning that approximately 17,000 fewer children are now dying each day. Yet each year nearly 7m young children continue to lose their lives, largely from preventable infectious diseases.

We must increase our commitment to children by focusing our efforts more acutely on issues like malaria and other preventable causes of death.

With limited resources and a shifting development landscape, we must work together to be sure we are making smart investments to maximise value and impact.

I urge those participating in the two conferences in Dubai this week to consider this while engaging in discussions on the future of our world.

Though not yet finalised, it is clear that the post-2015 sustainable development goals will be ambitious and comprehensive. They will require us to work boldly within and between sectors to advance progress across the spectrum.

This will require commitment from all stakeholders, including members of the private sector.

We’ve seen with malaria time and time again that when companies engage in truly public-private partnerships for health, they help create healthy communities that can change the course of history for generations.

We are well on track to achieving our targets on malaria, which will only allow greater achievement in other areas, including education and poverty reduction.

But continued progress will require a collective effort – perhaps more so than ever.

If we can come together and be bold and innovative in our actions, I think it will also set us up for a greater victory.

Herve Verhoosel is representative at the United Nations in New York of the Roll Back Malaria Partnership