African Leaders Malaria Alliance
February 2nd, 2010 | Posted by Jonathan ShradarThe African Leaders Malaria Alliance met yesterday in Ethiopia during a meeting of the African Union. From the UN News Centre:
“Dozens of African leaders met today in Ethiopia to tackle the challenges facing the continent in the effort to meet the United Nations target of ensuring universal access to malaria control measures by the end of this year.
Some 26 heads of State convened the first working session of the African Leaders Malaria Alliance (ALMA) during the annual African Union (AU) summit, which got under way yesterday in the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa.
ALMA aims to defeat the disease, which accounts for over 25 per cent of all deaths of children under the age of five across Africa, affects over 50 million pregnant women and is responsible for 10 per cent of all maternal mortalities every year.
As much as 40 per cent of health-care spending in endemic countries goes on malaria, costing the continent around $12 billion a year, according to a press release issued by ALMA.
The 26-nation ALMA coalition said that in the past 12 months alone at least 90 million long-lasting, insecticidal mosquito nets were delivered in Africa, and overall 200 million such nets have been distributed to 400 million people in sub-Saharan Africa, where virtually all malaria deaths occur.”
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