Malaria is a disease whose impact remains widely underestimated, for it claims 1 million lives every year. And despite the existence of effective treatments, they are not available to all. In Africa, where 90% of all malaria fatalities occur, the disease affects four times as many children and pregnant women, who constitute the main group at risk, and kills one African child every 30 seconds. What makes these figures all the more alarming is that malaria is neither an incurable disease, nor is it necessarily fatal.
A battle that 'can be won'
And yet, in recent years the World Bank has considerably stepped up its fight against malaria. Millennium Goal 6 - Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases, brought the problem to the forefront of international attention and some remarkable results have been achieved. Between 2005 and 2007, the number of malarial infections in children dropped by 64% in Rwanda, and child mortality was cut by 66%. Over the same period, the number of deaths from malaria also dropped by 71% in Eritrea.
Belgian policy
Belgian Development Cooperation is currently implementing one direct support programme, its National Malaria Programme in Rwanda. Under that project, Belgium provides financial and technical support to the Rwandan Ministry of Health in a bid to bring down the number of malaria cases and fatalities. In practice, Belgium's support takes the form of practical and theoretical training courses as well as technical assistance for the Malaria Control Team, decentralisation of control-related actions, the establishment of a surveillance system for detecting epidemics, and other activities.
Belgium's multilateral policy for fighting malaria is probably having the greatest impact. In addition to the traditional cooperation with the World Health Organisation (WHO) (worth €7 million in 2009), Belgium also regularly contributes to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. This Global Fund supports projects in 140 countries and has so far distributed 88 million impregnated mosquito nets and treated 90 million malaria patients. To this end, Belgium freed up €76.6 million, including €16.6 million in 2009.
Indirect cooperation is the third axis of Belgium's fight against malaria. Our country sponsors scientific research into malaria through the Institute of Tropical Medicine Antwerp (ITM). The ITM has also taken the initiative of establishing a network to monitor antimalarial treatments in Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda and Uganda.
Music For Life and Princess Astrid
Belgian Development Cooperation has decided to finance the Music For Life action run by the radio station Studio Brussel (you will no doubt recall the House of Glass set up in Louvain and Ghent). Each year, Music For Life selects a worrying development-related problem and conducts a musical campaign based around that theme from its House of Glass. This year, Music For Life's chosen theme is malaria.
The personal commitment of Her Royal Majesty Princess Astrid as the special representative of Roll Back Malaria, the international partnership for the fight against the disease, must also be acknowledged. Princess Astrid is also the face of the international campaign United Against Malaria , which intends to draw on the football fever surrounding the 2010 World Cup to focus international attention on malaria.
Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria: http://www.theglobalfund.org
Roll Back Malaria: http://www.rollbackmalaria.org
Music For Life: http://www.stubru.be/programmas/musicforlife
