Children holding a new mosquito net in Namibia - a malaria elimination country

There are less than 1000 days left until we reach the 2015 deadline set by the UN as part of the Millennium Development Goals to halt and start to roll back malaria. Are we on track? Yes, says our Executive Director James Whiting, but if we are to defeat malaria we must keep up the funding and political will.

In the 1980’s and 90’s death rates from malaria grew dramatically. One of the relatively unsung human achievements of this century is to have begun to reverse this deadly trend, with the deaths from malaria down by 26% around the world. The World Health Organization estimates that over one million children’s lives have been saved by the malaria campaign in the last decade. This is thanks to a well coordinated international campaign involving scientists, donor and domestic governments, NGO’s, business, and UN institutions, and the mass spread of insecticide-treated nets, treatment and diagnostic tests. Nets, treatment and tests all cost under £5 so this is a hugely effective way to reduce mortality rates, particularly for children under five years old (who make up over 90% of malaria deaths in Africa).

Health worker Rra Modongo using phone and data collection forms

This week the 2012 Global Business Coalition Health Conference awarded Botswana’s innovative malaria diagnosis, reporting and mapping pilot programme its prestigious Partnership and Collective Action Award. This award recognises the contribution of partners from the public and private sector who have brought their skills, resources and technical expertise to health initiatives.

Jointly supported by Malaria No More UK and US, the pilot programme involved Botswana’s Ministry of Health, the Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI), local non-profit organisation Positive Innovation for the Next Generation (PING), HP and mobile network provider MASCOM. Together we have successfully initiated and tested a new mobile phone based reporting, malaria diagnosis and mapping programme involving every public health clinic in Chobe District, Botswana.

Today the World Health Organization (WHO) Global Malaria Programme and the Roll Back Malaria Partnership (RBM) have launched a global plan to tackle emerging mosquito resistance to insecticides. WHO and RBM are urging affected countries and stakeholders to take action now. They want to make sure we can preserve the effectiveness of current mosquito control tools, such as long lasting insecticidal nets and sprays, and to ensure that a new generation of insecticides is available soon.

For more information on the Global Plan visit who.int/malaria

(c) Geoff Ward

A huge range of activity took place around the world in the last few days to mark World Malaria Day. It would be impossible to cover it all but we wanted to share some of the highlights!

Local and global leaders spoke out about the pressing need to maintain the momentum. Ban Ki-moon UN Secretary General issued a World Malaria Day message. with the news he is making malaria is a key priority for his second term. The Prime Minister spoke of the leadership role of the UK in the fight against malaria; and former Prime Minister

Today the Wellcome Trust has released a study showing malaria infection reduces early fetal growth. The impact of malaria on young children is well known, but this study confirms just how much malaria affects the development of babies in pregnancy.

The World Malaria Report 2011 estimated malaria killed 655 000 people in 2010. Pregnant women and children under 5 are known to be particularly vulnerable to malaria.

Hot on the heels of the recent announcement of the new GSK vaccine to help prevent malaria, this week there has been another breakthrough in the efforts to tackle the malaria parasite. The Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute has discovered a new way to help stop the parasite reproducing which means we could see a new malaria vaccine in the future.

Professor David Schellenberg is one of our Policy Advisors and was interviewed on the BBC World Service’s Focus on Africa programme last week to mark the launch of the new report, Roll Back Malaria Partnership: A Decade of Partnership and Results.

Dr Coll-Seck, RBM; Dr Loucq, PATH and Pauline Latham MP at the APPMG

Tuesday 28 June saw some of the key players in the fight against malaria gather in London. They were here for the launch of the Roll Back Malaria Partnership report on financing for Malaria Research and Development at the meeting of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Malaria and Neglected Tropical Diseases (APPMG). The event was held at Portcullis House and opened by Pauline Latham, MP.

We’re always keen to hear of new ways to tackle malaria and this last week, the University of Westminster announced it had discovered a genetically modified fungus that appears to reduce the incidence of the malaria parasite. Our Executive Director Sarah Kline talked to the BBC World Service about why the ongoing work to develop new medicines and insecticides is so critical to helping make malaria no more.

On Friday 23 April, I joined a seminar organised by the Malaria Centre at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. The session, “Counting malaria out: the problem of drugs” was held to mark World Malaria Day and brought together experts from across the globe. The presentations were fascinating and if you would like to learn more click here.