Africa is taking command of its future by tackling an ancient plague: malaria.
Supported by the lessons learned from the decade to "roll back malaria," which produced a 33 percent decline in malaria deaths in Africa between 2000 and 2010, 41 African presidents have now signed on to end deaths from the disease in their home countries as part of the African Leaders Malaria Alliance (ALMA).
ALMA is a great illustration of President Barack Obama's pronouncement, made before the parliament in Ghana in 2009, that "Africa's future is up to Africans." The world's support is indispensable, but Africa is getting the job done through mutual accountability, innovation, and collaborative problem solving.
Recently, I committed to weaning Liberia off foreign aid in the next decade. For other African countries, it will take a bit longer, but with sound policies, genuine leadership, and reliable partnership from the world, I believe Africa can be free of the need for development assistance in a generation.
Until that day, we must commit ourselves to ensuring that foreign aid dollars are well spent. That's why African nations have agreed to publish their progress (and setbacks) in the fight against malaria via the ALMA Scorecard for Accountability and Action (updated quarterly at ALMA2015.org).
This week in Addis-Ababa, Ethiopia, I will assume the Chairmanship of ALMA, and I want to begin by thanking my predecessor, the founding chairman of ALMA, President Jakaya Kikwete of Tanzania, for his vision, leadership, and service.
During his two year tenure -- and thanks to the generous support of the American people and institutions they help fund like the World Bank and the Global Fund to Fight Aids, Tuberculosis, and Malaria -- Africa has witnessed an unprecedented increase in the delivery and use of life-saving tools in the fight against malaria: insecticide-treated mosquito nets, targeted spraying, rapid diagnostic tests, and effective treatments, including preventative care during pregnancy.
Despite this encouraging progress, much work remains to be done. So I want to make the case for why Africa's future depends on winning this fight -- and why it is should matter to all of us.
If you care about the health of mothers and children, you must care about malaria.
Malaria is one of the top three killers of children under the age of five in Africa, claiming a young life every minute. It is a nightmare for parents: in the morning, your child can be laughing and playing, seemingly healthy. By nightfall, she can be fevered and comatose, fighting for her life.
In this age of modern medical advances, it is simply unacceptable for a child to die from a mosquito bite, but help is on the way. In clinical trials, a new malaria vaccine protected over half the children who received it. If, as expected, the vaccine is licensed for use in a few years, it won't replace the need for bed nets, but it will mean that more mothers will be spared the horror of watching their child die from a preventable disease.
If you care about education, you must care about malaria.
Malaria alone accounts for 50 percent of preventable absenteeism in African schools, causing up to 10 million missed days each year. Severe cases in childhood can inflict permanent neurological damage, and babies born to pregnant women who contract malaria are at risk of low birth weight and lasting learning disabilities. Simply put, we cannot train Africa's next generation effectively if we do not protect them from malaria.
If you care about peace -- and the prosperity of every woman, child and community -- you must care about malaria.
Just as deadly mosquitoes suck the blood from our children, malaria drains the lifeblood from our economies, and with it, hope and opportunity from our lives. Most adult cases of malaria don't end in death, but they do keep entrepreneurs from their businesses, farmers from their fields, and market traders from their stalls. The disease costs Africa an estimated $12 billion a year in lost productivity.
But to understand malaria's true impact, consider that the disease can rob individual families in poorer communities of as much as 25 percent of their disposable income. By controlling malaria we eliminate a major obstacle to sustainable economic development and stability in Africa.
Africa must demonstrate its own commitment to this outcome by expanding domestic funding of health. Innovative finance approaches -- such as pooled commodity procurement or airport surcharges -- will be a major topic of discussion at the ALMA meeting this week. We should also commit to using the resources in hand, including investments made in our countries by the World Bank, to fuel continued progress in the malaria fight.
Of course, Africa's challenges don't end with malaria. That's why I look forward to working with my fellow African leaders to broaden ALMA's mission to other issues that affect maternal and child health.
Although President Obama was speaking to Africa that day in Ghana two years ago, he was speaking about all of us. "Your prosperity can expand America's," he said. "Your health and security can contribute to the world's. And the strength of your democracy can help advance human rights for people everywhere."
Africa's future is up to Africans, yet our mission belongs to the world.
Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, the president of Liberia, was a recipient of the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize.
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I am pleased to announce that we have succeeded, after years of self-funded R&D, to produce a non-chemical complex mineral based liquid called Preventine MLC that is mixed with water 1:1000 to achieve a 100% killing rate of larvae after 24 hours, when diluted by heavy rainfall we still achieve a 100% killing rate at 1:25000.
I witnessed the suffering of Malaria in Ghana myself - we are now returning to Accra for the launch at our symposium held on the 20th April.
Each female mosquito is known to lay up to 1000+ eggs during her lifetime after a blood-feast
we will stop 1000+ new mosquitoes from ever taking flight. Natural prevention at its best.
Mosquito nets have made a remarkable difference in sub-Sahara Africa, I use one too, but I am exposed to bites if I leave the protective net space.
Preventine MLC comes in 100ml bottles, enough for 7 fillings of a 15 Ltr back-sprayer covering a vast area. It will come onto the market at the price of 4 bed-nets and can be delivered by Fedex/DHL overnight as it is non-hazardous, non- toxic.
US Scientist will be present who tested MLC with live mosquitoes, also reports from field tests around the world.
For further information or attendance at our symposium in Accra, kindly contact me at
peter@preventine-ltd.com or info@preventine-ltd.com
Respectfully,
Peter Troniseck
Preventine Ltd - Chairman
I am just finishing the book "Merchants of Doubt" which tells of the use of DDT to eradicate malaria and yellow fever. I never knew about the history of the Panama Canal and how the first effort to build it failed because of disease, but a visionary US medical officer in 1904 showed that by draining ponds and removing stagnant water, and through targeted fumigation and oil treatments they reduced malaria and yf dramatically and allowed the canal to be completed.
DDT eventually became ineffective because of insect resistance and because it killed beneficial insects. Rachel Carson's book "Silent Spring" warned of the dangers to wildlife caused by DDT and it was eventually banned. But years later pseudo-scientists accused Rachel Carson of being responsible for millions of deaths worldwide because of the ban. Total rubbish. Insecticides should be used with the utmost understanding that overuse creates resistance. Proactive, yet tedious, measures to reduce stagnant water is essential.
We need a more diversified approach to the problem, and a commitment to adapting tactics to stay ahead of the malaria parasites and vectors. I don't see this happening right now. There's a complacency that worries me, and if it doesn't change, the resources and efforts of recent years
may be wasted if not all for naught.
DDT was banned on the basis of a few environmentalists claiming it was harming birds
There has NEVER been any human illness or deaths in humans and that includes the people who manufactured DDT.
EXTREME Enviromentalists are responsible for the NEEDLESS DEATHS OF MILLIONS UPON MILLIONS OF CHILDREN AND BABYS around the world.
Does it stop the bites when the children are walking to school or out playing?
What a thoughtless, uncaring, du#mb remark.
Exactly like environmentalists and other smart people said would happen.
The same thing is now happening to the pyrethroid insecticides used to treat bednets. The formerly 80% mosquito kill rate in Ethiopia fell to 55% last year and should continue to fall as long as selective pressure is maintained.
It's time to give this zombie DDT idea a well-deserved rest. We need new approaches (or to revisit older, non-insecticidal approaches like habitat removal and housing modification).