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Governments must be held accountable on commitments to fight malaria

A woman dries a bed net at the entrance to her home in Biaka, the Ivory Coast - REX
A woman dries a bed net at the entrance to her home in Biaka, the Ivory Coast - REX

Commonwealth leaders should commit to tracking progress in cutting the number of malaria cases and deaths to ensure they meet ambitious pledges to fight the disease made last year.

A coalition of partners including the World Health Organization and NGOs such as Malaria No More and the RBM Partnership to End Malaria, have called on Commonwealth leaders to hold each other to account at their biennial gatherings of health ministers.

At last year’s Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in London all 53 heads of state committed to halving the number of malaria deaths and cases in the Commonwealth by 2023. The meeting also saw financial commitments from countries and donors of $4.1bn.

The Commonwealth countries account for around half of all malaria deaths globally and, if the goal is achieved in all member states, 350 million cases of the disease would be prevented and 650,000 lives would be saved.

According to data from the WHO seven Commonwealth countries – the Gambia, Belize, Bangladesh, India, Malaysia, Mozambique and Nigeria – are already on track to achieve the target.

But the most recent world malaria figures show that in 2017 19 Commonwealth countries recorded an increase in the number of cases of the disease.

Dr Soumya Swaminathan, chief scientist at WHO, told a meeting in London to mark World Malaria Day on April 25 that the next five years were crucial in the fight against the disease.

“In the countries that have been successful we have seen a combination of a few factors at play. You need political will at the highest level, you need to have vector [mosquito] control, case detection and treatment. And you also need excellent data,” she said.

Peter Sands, executive director of the Global Fund to Fight Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria, told the meeting that last year’s commitments were a “major step forward” in the fight against the disease.

But he added: “We had such explicit political commitment at the event last year. However, we do need to see that translated into action, specifically into action around committing the resources required.”

This year sees the fund’s regular replenishment round and it has called for $14bn to fight the three diseases over the next three years. The fund provides around 60 per cent of all external funding for the fight against malaria.

Mr Sands said: “At current levels of resources we run the risk of losing some of the extraordinary gains we have made against malaria.”

He said that a successful replenishment was vital but that was “only part of the story” and countries most affected by the disease must also put their hands in their pockets.

“Some countries have done a great job and we can see the political will. But in some countries there is a disconnect between their rhetoric and the money coming through,” he said.

Joy Phumaphi, executive secretary of the African Leaders Malaria Alliance, told the meeting that fighting malaria was a “development imperative”.

“[Malaria] is taking away economic growth, reducing GDP and reducing productivity levels,” she said.

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