What is the problem with malaria?
What is the problem with malaria? Half a billion people in the world are suffering from the disease, one million die each year, and it is getting worse. The scale on which the parasite, transmitted by the mosquito, kills is breathtaking. Yet we know how to prevent and treat it – simply, effectively and cheaply. Why did the World Health Organisation publish a report on malaria yesterday? Because we are at the halfway point between the Abuja declaration of 2000 – in which 53 African heads of state pledged to halve deaths from malaria – and the 2010 deadline by which its aims are to be achieved. This is the appropriate moment to take stock. How far have we got? Not far enough. The lack of progress is lamentable, despite optimism of the WHO. It says more people have access to prevention and treatment, thanks to the Roll Back Malaria programme launched in 1998 ,”sparking hope that the number of people who become sick and die from malaria will begin to decline.” But if the programme had been
