Special Envoy Visits Nigeria and Kenya
For Immediate Release:
8 December, 2009
United Nations – The UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for Malaria, Ray Chambers, will be visiting Nigeria and Kenya this week, to review progress made and challenges that remain in the malaria control effort there. The two nations represent one third of all global malaria mortality, leading to nearly 400,000 deaths and billions of dollars in lost economic opportunities in those countries alone. Ensuring universal access to malaria-control tools – insecticidal mosquito nets, indoor spraying with insecticides, and effective medication – by the end of 2010, in both countries is critical to reaching the Secretary-General’s ultimate goal of near-zero global malaria deaths by 2015.
The Special Envoy will focus on the following topics with in each country when he arrives this week:
Nigeria
The Special Envoy is returning to Nigeria exactly one year after meeting with His Excellency, President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, Health Minister Babatunde Osotimehin, Finance Minister Mansur Muhtar, and key development partners at the forefront of the effort to combat malaria. During the one year that has elapsed since the Special Envoy’s visit, transformative progress has been achieved. Close to half of Nigeria’s population now has access to a mosquito net, and over fifteen million nets have been delivered by Federal and State government this year alone. A month-by-month net distribution strategy has been established to ensure that across Nigeria’s 36 states, nets are continuously delivered until universal coverage is achieved at the end of 2010. Nigeria is also positioning itself to achieve funding for 100 percent of the 70 million nets that are required for universal coverage, with 60 million nets already funded, and with the approval and disbursement of resources from the World Bank, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB, and Malaria, and UNITAID, among others.
As funding is in place for the vast majority of these nets, delivery and utilization campaigns take center stage. A key part of increasing use of these life-saving tools is the mobilization of communities. To assist in this mobilization, an innovative inter-religious assemblage has been established over the past year as well. The Nigerian Inter-Faith Action Association NIFAA, was convened earlier this year by Nigeria’s Muslim and Catholic leadership, the Sultan of Sokoto and the Archbishop of Abuja.
On December 10, the Special Envoy will join NIFAA as it launches its Faith United for Health campaign in Abuja. This unprecedented engagement of health leaders across Nigeria aims to empower up to 300,000 faith leaders with the ability to lead their communities in boosting the usage of Long Lasting Insecticidal Mosquito Nets, LLINs.
“The exemplary leadership of President Yar’Adua, the ministry of health, and all development partners working alongside the government, is leading to a fundamental reversal of the course of malaria control in Nigeria,” said Mr. Chambers. “In just one year, Nigeria has position itself to meet the Secretary-General’s goal of universal coverage by 2010. With one quarter of the world’s malaria deaths occurring here, Nigeria bears the most onerous malaria burden. But the proficiency with which the government is closing in on malaria is a bold statement that across sub-Saharan Africa, the Secretary General’s goal is achievable. All nations who feel that the challenge may be too daunting, can look to Nigeria and understand that rapid progress is possible.”
Kenya
The Special Envoy’s visit to Kenya comes at a turning point in the nation’s effort to combat malaria. Malaria has been on the retreat in Kenya, with deaths and incidence in Kenya on the decline. However, in order to protect the gains made, and to make the final push toward universal coverage of malaria prevention and treatment, a critical shortage of funding for 11 million nets must be addressed. As millions of nets that are in use currently are at the end of their usable life, millions of children who are currently protected may soon be exposed to malaria, leading to a possible health crisis in which a majority of the Kenyan population most at risk from malaria would be left unprotected.
There is reason for hope as both the Global Fund to Fight Aids, Tuberculosis, and Malaria, the World Bank, UNITAID, and other partners, are positioning themselves to offset this shortage through a series of contributions.
“With Kenyan leadership, and the commitment of The Global Fund, The World Bank, UNICEF, and others, a potential health crisis can be averted, by ensuring that over 20 million Kenyans are not left unprotected from malaria,” said Mr. Chambers. “In Kenya and in the international community, the ramifications of this potential disaster have resonated and the force with which a response is a occurring is extremely encouraging.”
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