AFRICAN PEACE MAGAZINE MARCH ISSUE

POLICY
Good Governance
Is The Best Vaccine
Against Malaria
By Elvis Iyorngurum
The World Health Organizations' Malaria Report 2013, released in December 2013 indicates that the world
has made remarkable gains in the fight against the disease, worldwide, including in Africa.
According to the report, between 2000 and 2012, the scale-up of interventions led to a global drop in malaria
infection rate, by 29% and 31% in the WHO African region. This, the report says, led to a reduction in the
global malaria mortality rate by 45% and 49% in the WHO African region, within the same period. An
estimated 3.3 million lives were saved, 90%, or 3 million, of these lives saved were in the under-five age
group, in sub-Saharan Africa.
In spite of these gains however, malaria still remains a big threat to the lives of millions across the world and
particularly in Africa. An estimated 3.4 billion people are at risk of malaria infection, 1.2 billion of which are at
high risk. In high-risk areas, more than one malaria case occurs per every 1000 population.
In 20012, malaria claimed an estimated 627 000 lives. 90% of all malaria deaths occur in sub-Saharan Africa,
and 77% occur in children under five.
The World Health Assembly's global target is to reduce by 75%, deaths caused by malaria before the end of
December 2015. With 22 months to the deadline, African governments and their development partners must
double their current efforts. This is more so because of increasing concerns that the progress against malaria is
at risk of slowing down. This concern has arisen out of the emerging resistance to drugs by the malaria
parasite. In Africa, there is evidence also of an alarming increase against insecticides by mosquitoes.
The implication is that governments must shift the concentration from treatment and focus more on
prevention. In this regard, the current intensive distribution of mosquito treated nets must be sustained.
New approaches to fighting malaria must include screening and treatment for individuals infected with the
parasite, including those who do not show symptoms yet remain a source of transmission. Exciting scientific
advances – including the development of better drugs and prevention tools - are making it increasingly more
feasible and cost-effective to implement this approach and help eliminate the risk of malaria across the globe.
The state of the environment is a very vital factor in the war against malaria. How much African governments
have done in this regard remains a source of worry. Malaria occurs mostly among people within the low
income bracket in society. This class is vulnerable because they often live in slums and environments that are a
good breeding ground for mosquitoes and other vectors. People live next to mountains of refuse dump and
drainages that are blocked and filled with waste and stagnant water. It is near-impossible for people to escape
malaria infection in such places. The low economic strength of this segment of society also makes it difficult
for them to access quality and efficient healthcare and many die of malaria because they cannot afford a dose
of anti-malaria when they are infected by the parasite.
Governments must therefore, design and implement policies that will ensure a quality and healthy
environment for all their citizens, regardless of their social and economic status.
Millions of lives have been saved in the efforts to combat malaria, yet the disease remains one of the world's
deadliest killers. African leaders must sustain the current efforts, most of which have been made possible by
the goodwill of foreign governments and international donor agencies. They must realize that there is a limit to
which their efforts will help the fight and the larger responsibility falls on the quality of governance they
render to the people. Poverty, for example, remains intricately tied to disease prevalence. African
governments must therefore, increase the quality of governance they render their people, with specific efforts
towards the creation of job opportunities, development of the needed infrastructure that will support smallscale
investment and the guarantee of lives and property. These are the hallmarks of good governance, which
remains the most potent weapon in the push for a malaria-free Africa.
AFRICAN PEACE MAGAZINE / 6