The provision of a long-lasting insecticide-treated bednet offers families protection against malaria for at least three years at a cost of about seven dollars.

Africa Malaria Day 2006 marks the sixth anniversary of the Abuja Declaration when African heads of state and governments agreed to achieve specific targets on malaria prevention and control, in particular, halving the incidence of malaria in Africa by 2010.

Malaria is a life-threatening parasitic disease transmitted by mosquitoes and found throughout the tropical and sub-tropical regions of the world. In sub-Saharan Africa approximately one million children die of malaria every year, and in all of Africa, malaria is the leading killer of children under five. A child dies of malaria every 30 seconds. Malaria is also a significant cause of illness (morbidity) in children. Severe episodes of malarial illness are the main reason for hospitalizations in malaria endemic areas.

Since 2003, the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) has provided more than $26 million to the Canadian Red Cross and $9 million to UNICEF to distribute long-lasting insecticide-treated mosquito nets in Africa, including Ethiopia, Malawi, Mozambique, Togo, Niger, Sierra Leone and Zambia. Over a three-year period, it is estimated that close to 50,000 children’s lives will be saved by these partnerships between CIDA and the Canadian Red Cross and UNICEF based on a comprehensive analysis of all existing studies of similar activities conducted by Dr. Lengeler of the Swiss Tropical Institute.

This support for malaria control focuses on providing treated mosquito nets to mothers and children in African countries with a high burden of malaria to help save lives. It is expected that CIDA’s contribution will enable the distribution of more than 4 million nets in Africa.

CIDA also supports efforts for malaria prevention and treatment through the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (GFATM). Since 2002, CIDA has committed close to $550 million to the GFATM. Twenty-seven % of the Fund’s total funding is for malaria.

Other CIDA-supported anti-malaria projects include $10.5M to the World Health Organization’s Regional Office for Africa to support selected countries to increase collaboration between traditional and modern medicine and to integrate the practice of traditional medicine into national health systems for the management of malaria and other priority diseases, and over $3.9M in 2004 to the World Agroforestry Centre, whose program includes a component to make home-grown anti-malarial treatments that can be produced by the rural poor.

CIDA’s partnership with the Canadian Red Cross helps fight malaria in Afric Niger – In December 2005 and March 2006 CIDA contributed $1.7M to provide over 400,000 long-lasting mosquito nets to households with children under five years of age nationwide. It is expected that some 2400 lives will be saved through this activity and, that debilitating episodes of malaria illness will decrease by half. Mozambique – A $4.2M project in 2005, specifically targeting children and pregnant women, resulted in a doubling of the number of “bednets” for children to sleep under. Prior to this program very few households had a betnet. By the end of this program ownership exceeded goals set by the Roll Back Malaria Program. Togo – In April 2004, with CIDA’s $4.5M, 730,000 long-lasting mosquito nets were distributed by pairing bednet delivery with immunization activities that are noted for their very high attendance. This extensive reach will save at least 4300 lives related to malaria alone. Zambia – In 2003, CIDA contributed $2.1M for combined measles and malaria campaigns. This Canadian funding allowed for the distribution of around 90,000 long-lasting insecticide treated bednets. Malawi and Sierra Leone – An ongoing CIDA-funded Canadian Red Cross campaign in Malawi and Sierra Leone is expected to provide nearly 880,000 long-lasting bednets. Together, these activities will result in well over 5,000 children’s lives saved. Network Development – CIDA, working closely with its partners, including the Red Cross and the UN Foundation, assisted in bringing ministers from developing countries, net manufacturers, donors and multilateral agencies together to address common challenges in scaling-up malaria programs. In large part due to this Network, country-wide distribution of nets was made possible for African countries.

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The Abuja Declaration and the Plan of Action (1.04 MB, 11 pages)