The World Bank and partners in the global war against malaria are
calling for an intense push to eliminate malaria as a major public
health problem and end deaths from this ancient disease.

This week, the World Bank invited world music superstar, Yous-sou N’Dour to perform before African ambassadors, Roll Back Malaria partners, Bank staff, and other distinguished guests.

The occasion? The first World Malaria Day—an opportunity to focus attention on the challenge and opportunity malaria presents for those most directly affected and those able to help do something about it.

The star was invited in his capacity as the UNICEF and RollBack Malaria Goodwill Ambassador.

From his place at the top of the music charts, Youssou is doing his share, by reaching out to everyone from African youth who enjoy his music and have young siblings at risk, to world leaders who can apply vast resources to the problem.

"The world has started a war against malaria, a war we can all win," Youssou said.  "We have a grand alliance, called Roll Back Malaria. Allies like the World Bank, the Global Fund, the U.S. and the U.N. are doing more.

"And on the first World Malaria Day, we have presidents and even basketball players involved. The high-level attention to malaria is just what we wanted when we started the Africa Live malaria concert in 2005, but it’s still not enough.

"Mosquitoes don’t care about visas—we need cross-border efforts like the Zambezi region proposes. With efforts like that, we can eliminate malaria."

Commitment from Africa and current partners is at an all-time high. Youssou, the World Bank, and partners across the globe are calling on others to join this winnable fight.

Malaria is preventable and treatable, but a million or more people – mostly African children – still die from it every year.

"The good news however, is that more African countries are showing that it is in fact possible to control malaria," notes World Bank Vice President for Africa, Obiageli Ezekwesili.

"Despite difficult conditions and initial pessimism, countries such as Benin, Ethiopia, Rwanda, and Zambia are successfully scaling up malaria control efforts through provision of bednets and effective drugs. Certainly more countries can follow a similar path with enough resources and technical support."

Critical to the success of these countries is the ability to ramp up malaria control efforts quickly and sustain the level of effort long enough to drastically reduce the number of people and mosquitoes harboring the parasite that causes malaria. Given the current immense global interest in malaria, now is the time to do it, and effective partnership is crucial to the equation.

"The malaria community is in a better place than ever before. The Roll Back Malaria Partnership is working to produce unprecedented collaboration. People on the ground and at the global level are excited about the prospect of ending deaths from malaria," said Ray Chambers, United Nations Special Envoy for Malaria. "We know what to do; now we just need to get it done." Additional financing is essential.

Since the 2005 launch of its Booster Program for Malaria Control in Africa, the World Bank has committed US $467 million to malaria prevention and treatment in Africa, making it one of the top three funders of malaria control.

This funding has been requested by African countries to buy long lasting insecticidal nets (LLINs), effective drugs, and supplies for spraying the walls of homes with insecticide.

It includes money to strengthen health care systems so that they can better manage the life-threatening malaria cases that can consume up to 40 per cent of public health resources in heavily-affected countries.
strengthen health care systems so that they can better manage the life-threatening malaria cases that can consume up to 40 per cent of public health resources in heavily-affected countries.

This funding comes from the World Bank’s International Development Association, better known as IDA. IDA is a mechanism by which the poorest countries receive no-interest loans or grants from the world’s richer countries. Every three years, donor countries meet to decide what each of them will contribute. Pledges made by donor countries in December 2007 mean that IDA 15 (the 15th time the fund has been replenished) will contain a record US $41 billion.

While that sounds like it would buy more than enough bed nets, drugs, and insecticides to stop malaria, IDA resources are used to support an entire spectrum of development issues – roads, education, agriculture, health, and many others.

Even under the "simple" rubric of health, any number of diseases and issues come into play. And it is the countries borrowing the money who decide how to spend it.

The bank has been able to commit $467 million for malaria control only because 18 African countries decided malaria was important enough to allocate a significant portion of their IDA funds to it.

From this next round of funding, the bank anticipates that countries will spend significantly more of their IDA funds on malaria to take advantage of the current momentum around eliminating malaria as a public health threat. This would go a long way toward removing malaria as a major barrier to Africa’s economic growth.

"Defeating malaria is essential to Africa’s development," emphasised Professor Awa Marie Coll-Seck, Executive Director of the Roll Back Malaria Partnership. "In addition to making people physically miserable, malaria reduces productivity.

When adults—or their children—are sick with malaria, they lose

time from their work, which means they cannot produce the food, money, or other things they and their countries need."

She added, "Unless malaria is tackled in Africa, few countries there will meet FIVE key Millennium Development Goals on child health, maternal health, infectious diseases, universal primary education, and the eradication of poverty.

"Malaria must be stopped, and the world is now poised to achieve this goal."