Malaria dogs African hopes

The British government is using its role as current chair of the G8 group of wealthy nations and its presidency of the European Union from now until the end of the year to push for major revamping of aid and debt relief to Africa’s poorest countries. But a new report by a cross-party group of members of parliament warns that such efforts will have little impact unless a massive new attack on malaria forms part of the plans. Malaria kills between 1 million and 3 million people a year, most of them in Africa, where malaria is the biggest killer of children under five. It is also a growing problem, as the parasite shows increasing resistance to the cheapest drugs, and it is being eclipsed in public and political perception by the HIV/Aids pandemic which has swept Africa. This has put such strains on healthcare resources that malaria treatment is now less likely, because hospitals are so overcrowded and nurses and doctors themselves have fallen ill. It is crucial that malaria rises again on the healthcare and research agenda, the report says. Yet ironically, says the report from the all-party malaria group, unlike HIV/Aids, several tools for the eradication of malaria are to hand — insecticide impregnated bednets, house spraying and new drugs based on artimisinin derived from a native Chinese plant. “The biggest obstacle to progress at present is not shortage of science, but paucity of political will to deal with malaria,” the report says. “Compared with Aids, for example, malaria is neglected by politicians, researchers, activists and the media.” The Commission for Africa said that half the deaths of African children could be avoided if parents had access to nets and drugs that cost not much more than $1 a dose. Malaria eradication has been described as a potential ‘quick win’ towards a News focus