United Nations Foundation Challenges
Donors
To Help Raise $500,000 for Malaria Efforts
in Africa
Sub-Saharan African Countries to Cure
100 Million
Cases of Malaria over the Next Two Years
Washington,
April 26, 2005 – Senator Sam Brownback
(R-KS), Congresswoman Betty McCollum (D-MN),
Youssou N’Dour, UNICEF Goodwill
Ambassador and Grammy award-winning African
musician, Jack Valenti, President, Friends
of the Global Fight, Timothy E. Wirth,
President, The United Nations Foundation,
and Jack C. Chow, Assistant Director General,
The World Health Organization, held a
press conference today to recognize American
support of the fight against malaria.
Marking the first ever United States commemoration
of Africa Malaria Day, the event was part
of a global effort to build awareness
of the crippling effects of malaria on
the world’s most vulnerable citizens.
"Year
after year, more than one million people
in Senegal are affected by malaria,"
said Youssou N’Dour, UNICEF Goodwill
Ambassador and one of the most celebrated
African musicians in history, who traveled
from Senegal as a witness of the devastating
impact of malaria. “Not only does
the disease take a terrible human toll,
it cripples the economic development of
Africa. Businesses operate below capacity
and classrooms are filled with the empty
chairs of children who have malaria. But
we have hope, because there are effective
tools to prevent and treat malaria, and
with resources from the United States
we can fight this silent epidemic."
In
the United States, response to the global
malaria epidemic is on the rise due in
large part to the arrival of the Roll
Back Malaria Partnership, the birth of
the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis
and Malaria, and increased leadership
from U.S. lawmakers.
"To
those who have been given much, much is
required. Nations as blessed as ours will
be judged according to how we cared for
the weak, the sick, the vulnerable. Malaria
is a curable and controllable disease
for only a few dollars a person, yet it
is still the leading killer of children
in Africa. Now is the time to turn the
talk about controlling malaria into aggressive,
effective, and accountable action,”
said U.S. Senator Sam Brownback.
The
Global Fund is the main mechanism used
by the United States to fight malaria
globally. To date, the U.S. has contributed
a total of $1.1 billion to the Global
Fund.
"Overcoming
the human misery and economic destruction
caused by malaria can mean a million mothers
in Africa won't have to watch their children
die from a preventable and completely
treatable disease. Achieving this goal
will require on-going U.S. leadership
and a strong global partnership with enough
resources to focus on both innovation
as well as expanding the basic interventions
at the community level that have proven
to save lives," said U.S. Congresswoman
Betty McCollum.
Timothy
E. Wirth, President of The United Nations
Foundation and former United States Senator,
announced a challenge to donors around
the world to help raise $500,000 for malaria
efforts in Africa. For every four dollars
donated to the United Nations Foundation
in support of the Global Fund in the coming
days, the Foundation will match with one
dollar up to $100,000.
“Turning
a corner on the malaria epidemic will
take a united effort. The United Nations
has been leading the way in this fight
and with the help of citizens around the
globe, we can help African children lie
down to sleep without a fear of waking
up infected with this deadly disease,”
said Timothy E. Wirth, UN Foundation President.
“Malaria is preventable, treatable
and beatable.”
Friends
of the Global Fight also announced new
Global Fund monies to enable seven sub-Saharan
countries to cure 100 million cases of
malaria over the next two years. The grants
of $170 million mark the latest step in
an unprecedented shift in global health
policy, led by the Global Fund and the
Roll Back Malaria Partnership. In less
than one year, the malaria treatment policy
of 21 countries shifted from outdated
therapies with failure rates of 80 percent,
to new Artemisinin-based therapies (ACTs)
with efficacy rates at 98 percent.
“We
may have eradicated malaria from the United
States fifty years ago, but this disease
has not gone away. It is ravaging Africa,
killing innocent children and demands
a response from those of us living safely
in a malaria-free environment,”
said Jack Valenti, President of Friends
of the Global Fight Against AIDS, Tuberculosis
and Malaria. “The potential to turn
the tide on the malaria epidemic is extraordinary.
We must continue to build on this momentum
to eradicate this deadly disease.”
"After
years of advocacy, more financial resources
are being dedicated to fight malaria.
WHO welcomes and values the contributions
and advances made by many donors to combating
malaria, especially by the United States,”
said Jack C. Chow, M.D., Assistant Director-General,
HIV/AIDS-TB-Malaria, for the World Health
Organization from Geneva, Switzerland.
“In the campaign ahead to roll back
malaria globally, more resources, commitment
and hard work are urgently needed. The
United States public and private sectors
are well-positioned to accelerate the
global efforts through research, technological
progress and public health expertise."
Chris
Matthews, host of “Hardball with
Chris Matthews” on MSNBC, and a
survivor of malaria, moderated the press
conference.
Malaria
in Africa
Malaria
affects more than 300 million people every
year, and kills over 1 million. Ninety
percent of deaths are in sub-Saharan Africa.
Every
day 3,000 children die from this disease;
those who survive may suffer from brain
damage or paralysis.
Pregnant
women and their newborn babies are particularly
vulnerable to malaria, which is a major
cause of low birth weight, anemia and
infant death.
Malaria
costs African countries $12 billion every
year in lost GDP. The cost of effective
malaria control in Africa is estimated
at $2 billion per year.
Africa
Malaria Day
On
April 25, 2000, African leaders from 44
malaria-endemic countries met in Abuja,
Nigeria for the first-ever African Summit
on Malaria. At the summit, they signed
the historic Abuja Declaration, which
commits governments to an intensive effort
to halve the burden in Africa by 2010.
Africa
Malaria Day is commemorated by a variety
of activities organized by a wide range
of groups including governments, non-governmental
organizations, schools and communities,
in both malaria-endemic and industrialized
countries. Previous activities have included
parades, rallies, poster competitions
for children, radio and television phone-in
sessions, and letter-writing campaigns.
The
Roll Back Malaria Partnership
To
provide a coordinated international approach
to fighting malaria, the Roll Back Malaria
Partnership (RBM) was launched in 1998
by the World Health Organization, the
United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF),
the United Nations Development Program
(UNDP) and the World Bank.
The
Partnership now brings together governments
of countries affected by malaria, their
bilateral and multilateral development
partners, the private sector, non-governmental
and community-based organizations, foundations,
and research and academic institutions
around the common goal of halving the
global burden of malaria by 2010.
United
Nations Foundation
The UN Foundation was created in 1998
with businessman and philanthropist Ted
Turner’s historic $1 billion gift
to support United Nations’ causes.
The UN Foundation promotes a more peaceful,
prosperous, and just world through the
support of the UN. Through its grant making
and by building new and innovative public-private
partnerships, the UN Foundation acts to
meet the most pressing health, humanitarian,
socioeconomic, and environmental challenges
of the 21st century. (www.unfoundation.org)
Friends
of the Global Fight Against AIDS, Tuberculosis
and Malaria
Friends
of the Global Fight works to educate,
engage, and mobilize Americans in the
fight to end the worldwide burden of AIDS,
tuberculosis and malaria. By focusing
these efforts on decision-makers in Washington,
Friends seeks to build a sustained political
commitment to fighting these diseases
and to supporting the Global Fund to Fight
AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, a critical
component in the fight.
For
further information, please contact:
The
Roll Back Malaria Partnership
Pru Smith (Geneva)
+41-79-477-1744 smithp@who.int
The
United Nations Foundation
202.887.9040
Friends of the Global Fight Against
AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria Lynn Hylden
202.789.0801 lynn@theglobalfight.org
