Roll Back Malaria movement has clearly made extraordinary progress in many countries across the world, enabling hundreds of thousands of people living in poor communities to better access prevention and treatment services. But there remains much to be done. I hope that international and national agencies, encouraged by the progress, will commit additional resources so that actions to Roll Back Malaria can be scaled up and millions more can benefit. The rising numbers of people affected by Malaria overwhelms national health services, sustains poverty and weakens societies, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa where ninety percent of the cases occur. The cost of prevention and treatment consumes scarce household resources and the disease continues to have a negative impact on the health of children.
Malaria is much more than a health issue.
In many countries, it is now endangering development, targeting the poor and especially children who have little or no defense. We need to give them those defenses. We have seen in Asia, Latin America and some African countries, that malaria can be controlled with the right tools and resources. We need to work aggressively with local NGOs and with the private sector to fight malaria at the local level, and work with governments to scale up local programs into national strategies. It will also examine the role of the Government and potential contributions of the private sector and NGOs to form better partnerships that will extend malaria programs beyond the public health sector.