Statement to the G8 - APPMG Malaria Control Statement July 2008: Focus on Delivery to Achieve Sustained Impact

8 July 2008
Extract from statement published July 2008.

The full version can be downloaded here

The UK All Party Parliamentary Group on Malaria was launched in 2005 and has held regular presentations and debates dedicated to promoting control of malaria, which exerts a huge burden on the health and economy of developing countries. We argue that much of this burden is avoidable simply by applying existing tools with more determination.

The APPMG first examined the burden of malaria and the status of control and research, recommending that more support is needed and the support needs to be sufficiently longterm to reach a new lower equilibrium of malaria burden.

Secondly, the group examined the various financing mechanisms for malaria control and research, and recommended that slightly over $3 billion per year should be committed globally to ensure achievement of malaria related Millennium Development Goals. Thirdly, the group reviewed the concept of the Affordable Medicines Facility for malaria as a means to increase access to appropriate treatment, and concluded it was worth pursuing as long as broader health systems improvements were also supported. The APPMG is now gathering evidence on the crucial issue of how best to deliver malaria control interventions to achieve sustained impact and make best use of resources committed.

We also argue for increased sustained resources and work relentlessly as advocates to raise awareness in the UK and the rest of Europe to secure support for the measures to bear down on this most tractable of the world's scourges by using the preventive measures and treatments which are available and need to be scaled up.

Conclusion

It is very clear that we now have a highly effective arsenal of tools to combat malaria. These tools are at last making inroads on the greatest part of the global malaria burden, which is in Africa, because they are reaching meaningful coverage levels in some countries.

In order to maintain impact and move to the next stage towards elimination of malaria, delivery systems need to be rigorously evaluated and improved. The benefits of supportin