Secretary-General, at African Leaders’ Event, Hails Regional Strategy for Combating Malaria, Saying Investment Must Triple to Eradicate Disease Worldwide by 2030

Following are UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s remarks at the luncheon of the African Leaders’ Malaria Alliance, in Addis Ababa today:

I am pleased to be here in Addis Ababa to meet with so many leaders of the African Union and to talk about our shared effort to defeat one of the world’s biggest killers.  I am talking, of course, about malaria.  Given the heavy burden of the disease in this region, you are in a unique position to reflect on the progress made over the past 15 years, and the challenges that remain.

The malaria target of the Millennium Development Goals to halt and reverse the incidence of the disease has been reached on a global level.  This is a remarkable achievement.  Many of you have played a key role in the great progress that has been made.

Worldwide, the rates of new malaria cases have dropped by more than one third since 2000.  Today, 60 per cent fewer people are dying of malaria worldwide than at the beginning of the millennium.  Here in Africa, malaria mortality rates have fallen even more.

These are impressive achievements.  You should all be proud.  They are a result of your vision of a malaria-free world.  I also credit them to the boost in global financing for malaria control.  Extra resources have enabled the development and distribution of tests that are now used routinely to help health workers diagnose malaria.  Faster diagnosis means faster treatment.

These advances, combined with the use of indoor spraying and effective drug treatment, have helped avert hundreds of millions of cases in the region since 2001.  The investment is paying off in financial terms, too.  Saving lives and reducing cases means saving health-care costs.

But there is still more work to be done.  Sadly, we are still far from eliminating malaria.  Nearly half of the world’s population remains at risk.  Last year, there were 214 million new malaria cases, nearly 9 in 10 in Africa.  And there is no guarantee that progress will continue.  Malaria is a formidable opponent.  Mosquitoes develop resistance to insecticides and malaria itself can become resistant to medicines.

In the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the world set it itself the ambitious target of eliminating malaria and the epidemics of AIDS and tuberculosis by 2030.  I commend African Governments for joining others at the World Health Assembly to adopt a Global Technical Strategy for Malaria.  We are already matching our aspirations with action.

Reaching our goals will require that we more than triple current annual spending on malaria by 2030.  The recent announcement of more than $4 billion in funding over the next five years from the Gates Foundation and the British Government will be a major boost.

But, it will take more than money.  It will take political will and leadership.  The World Health Organization (WHO) is developing a strategy to take on these challenges, and I urge you to support this initiative.

Congratulations on all you have achieved so far, and I wish you every success for the future.