MAX AMUCHIE
Ray Chambers, Special Envoy of Ban Ki-Moon, the United Nations Secretary-General for Malaria, recently hosted religious and political leaders from different parts of the world in Washington, where the delegates launched an Africa-wide campaign to engage faith-based institutions, working in partnership with governments and the private sector to cover every African with a bed net by 2010., writes MAX AMUCHIE
Nigeria has taken a decisive step towards meeting the target set by Ban Ki-Moon, Secretary-General of the United Nations. Last year, the UN chief urged the world to achieve universal coverage of all those at risk of malaria in Africa with insecticide treated bed nets by December 31, 2010. He also set the target of 2015 to achieve zero death from malaria. At the ‘One World Malaria Summit’ held in Washington, the United States on April 24, the Nigerian delegation announced the establishment of the Nigerian Interfaith Action Association (NIFAA), with an initial focus on malaria. NIFAA will coordinate the efforts of congregations to increase the distribution and utilisation of nets, anti-malarial treatments and other interventions across Nigeria in partnership with the Nigerian National Malaria Control Programme.
The formation of NIFAA was announced jointly by John Onaiyekan, archbishop of the Catholic Archdiocese of Abuja and president of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) and Mohammed Sa’ad Abubakar III, the Sultan of Sokoto, who is leader of Muslims in Nigeria. Both men led the Nigerian delegation to the summit.
The Minister of Health, Babatunde Osotimehin, who was also on the Nigerian delegation, released the National Strategic Plan for Malaria Control, 2009-13. The plan provides for the distribution of 60 million nets to 30 million households by the end of 2010 to achieve the deadline agreed between Chambers and President Umaru Yar’Adua in December 2008. With the endorsement of major donors, Osotimehin announced $2 million in funding from the National Malaria Control Programme for the NIFAA Secretariat.
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According to a report emailed to BusinessDay by Jay Winsten, senior communications consultant to Ray Chambers, the Special Envoy of the UN Secretary-General for Malaria, the event, which was the first of its kind, got leaders across the world to pledge their strong support and active engagement to end all malaria-related deaths in Africa by 2015. The summit launched an Africa-wide campaign to engage faith-based institutions, working in partnership with governments and the private sector to cover every African with a bed net by 2010.
There was a groundswell of support for the malaria initiative from organisations and faith groups from around the world. The Centre for Interfaith Action on Global Poverty, together with Chambers announced a multi-year effort to engage faith-based leaders and institutions throughout sub-Saharan Africa and the United States to help reach the UN Secretary General’s goal of providing universal access to essential malaria control tools, such as mosquito nets and treatment by the end of 2010.
The Centre also together with the Tony Blair Faith Foundation, announced a plan to assist faith communities in seven malaria endemic countries to create interfaith action associations, focused initially on malaria, as a basis for collaboration with their national governments. The Centre will undertake a comprehensive review of how National Malaria Control Plans facilitate and enhance the participation of faith-based networks. The results of this review will inform the implementation of interfaith action associations against malaria in multiple malaria endemic nations.
Chambers and the Centre announced that they would hold a major summit at the United Nations in September to bring together faith-based leaders throughout malaria endemic countries with political leaders, government officials and other leaders.
At the summit, UNICEF executive director, Ann Veneman, announced the ‘World Malaria Day 2009 Report, Malaria & Children: Progress in Intervention Coverage’, which showed that with just over 600 days remaining until Ki-Moon’s deadline for all endemic countries to achieve universal coverage with key malaria control interventions by December 31, 2010, significant progress has been made. According to the report, there has been a huge increase in distribution of mosquito nets with resulting high coverage, and more than 240 million nets are scheduled to be distributed over the next 21 months. More work remains for expanding access to anti-malaria treatment but large numbers of essential treatments are now being procured and are now rolling out, including at the community level as part of a comprehensive package of primary health care services, the UNICEF boss said.
Rajat K. Gupta, chairman of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria announced the approval of $334 million over the next two years to support malaria control in Nigeria and stressed the critical importance of expanding funding for the Global Fund, which is seeking $2.7 billion from the United States for 2010. The funding for Nigeria, which includes over 30 million long-lasting insecticide-treated mosquito nets, represents one of the largest grants made for malaria control in the history of the Global Fund and will help enable Nigeria to reach universal coverage of malaria control interventions by December 31, 2010. Gupta stressed the potential role of religious leaders in Africa, who could help to ensure effective utilization and distribution of life-saving interventions.
The World Bank at the occasion announced that it would provide additional $300 million in International Development Association resources to help expand Nigeria’s efforts to control malaria. This new financing came as a response to a request from Nigeria to meet the seemingly ambitious 2010 goals set by the UN Secretary General. The sum of $100 million of this amount is said to be on a fast-track for approval by the World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors in June. The new funding will help close remaining gaps for net distribution, malaria treatment, diagnostics, awareness-raising, behavior change communication, and engagement of grassroots organizations in the fight. Combined with Nigeria’s initial “Malaria Plus” package of $180 million (approved in 2006), World Bank support to Nigeria is expected to approach $500 million, which would make it the largest malaria control investment in the bank’s history. These resources will help alleviate the crushing burden malaria places on health systems.
The World Bank Booster Programme for Malaria Control in Africa was launched in 2005 as a 10-year effort to reaffirm the bank’s commitment to malaria control. The World Bank committed about $470 million in IDA support and trust funds by June 2008. In September 2008, its president, Robert Zoellick announced a $1.1 billion commitment for Phase II of the Booster Programme. Nigeria will be the first country to benefit from this significant programme expansion.
From the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Admiral Tim Ziemer announced that over $15 million in new money would be provided this year for the provision of long-lasting mosquito nets (LLINs) for free distribution to vulnerable populations in highly endemic African countries outside of the President’s Malaria Initiative (PMI) 15 focus countries. USAID, through PMI’s Malaria Communities Programme, will award before September 30, approximately seven grants to new partners, including faith based organizations, to implement community based malaria activities in PMI countries. In November 2008, USAID announced $11 million in grants to eight organizations to extend the coverage of malaria prevention and control activities through this programme.
Executive Director of the Roll Back Malaria Partnership, Awa Marie Coll-Seck, at the summit, announced a new initiative to reduce the price of effective malaria treatments and greatly increase access by all who need them. UNITAID, the Global Fund, UNICEF, the Clinton Foundation, World Health Organization, United Kingdom, France, Norway, Ministries of Health and many other partners have come together to enable a reduction in the price of artemisinin-combination therapies to just 20 US cents per treatment, making them as affordable as the older, less effective medicines. The objective is to influence the demand for the new medicines and gradually drive the older ineffective options off the market. Faith-based and civil society groups will be instrumental in helping the poorest of the poor access ACTs under this new initiative, which will be rolled out in 11 countries in 2010. .
On his part, Imam Mohamed Hagmagid Ali, Vice President of the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) announced, in partnership with Malaria No More, that ISNA would educate its 100,000 members and several hundred affiliates around North America during its 2009 national convention about malaria control efforts through the publication and distribution of materials concerning malaria prevention and treatment for women and children in Africa. In addition, it will host a high-profile panel on the MDGs at its national convention in 2010.
Tariq Cheema of the World Congress of Muslim Philanthropists announced that the orgaanisation would boost the global fight against malaria by raising awareness about malaria treatment and prevention among its philanthropic partners and promote strategic partnerships among Muslim donors and grant making institutions and the global malaria community. The World Congress of Muslim Philanthropists is expanding the work initiated in Abu Dhabi and strengthening the collaboration between the Organization of the Islamic Conference, the Islamic Development Bank and Malaria No More.
Steven Phillips of ExxonMobil, working in partnership with Episcopal Relief and Development and NetsforLife and representing six corporate, foundation and faith-based institutions, announced at the summit that over the next five years, NetsforLife would directly reach 6.5 million vulnerable Africans with malaria messages; would train and deploy 32 thousand community malaria agents, and distribute seven million long-lasting bed nets in 17 countries.
Peter Chernin of Malaria No More announced with Youssou N’Dour an innovative $1 million “Surround Sound” Education and Utilisation Campaign to urge every family in Senegal to sleep under a net and seek appropriate treatment. Capitalising on the nationwide distribution of 2.2 million insecticide-treated nets to children in June, the campaign, according to the report, will activate key sectors of society – including faith networks, government, entertainment, sport, and local corporate marketers – to deliver the empowering message that no family need suffer from malaria.
The president of Lutheran World Relief (LWR), John Nunes said that they are joining with the two largest Lutheran church bodies in the United States, The Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod (LCMS) and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), to form the Lutheran Malaria Initiative (LMI) and launch a historic $75 million campaign, made possible through a partnership with the United Nations Foundation. By combining proven field strategies, experience, expertise, and resources, LMI would bring together a worldwide network of Lutheran congregations, partner churches, missionaries, and service providers in the fight against malaria. Funds raised through LMI also will support malaria programming of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB, and Malaria. In the U.S., LMI will serve to educate and mobilize nearly eight million Lutherans on the problem of malaria as a global health concern.
As part of The United Methodist Church’s commitment to raise $75 million to combat malaria through the United Nations Foundation Malaria Partnership, members of the church, at the summit, pledged to initiate a dedicated fund raising effort over the next two months, to launch a comprehensive fight against malaria in Sierra Leone. With its partners, the church said it hoped seek to help cover the entire vulnerable population of Sierra Leone with bed nets.
On his part, Rabbi Eric Yoffie of the Union for Reform Judaism’s announced URJ’s ongoing commitment to help cover every refugee in Africa with a life-saving bed net. URJ has partnered with the UN Foundation’s Nothing But Nets campaign to answer an urgent and immediate need for bed nets for refugees in Africa. Malaria is the leading killer of refugees in Africa, but with support from the URJ, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees is able to get life-saving bed nets to those who need them most. URJ has already covered one camp in Uganda and is helping the Nothing But Nets campaign raise funds to fulfill the need for 600,000 refugees living in East Africa.
