Showing posts with label World Malaria Day. Show all posts
Showing posts with label World Malaria Day. Show all posts

Monday, April 26, 2010

AMMREN Works with Partners at “Counting Malaria out” in Africa

WMD 2010_AMMREN NG_L-R 'Timeless' editor Ayo Jeremiah, speaker Dr. Abayomi Afe, Country Coordinator Adeleke Adeyemi.

AMMREN works with partners at “Counting Malaria out” in Africa


As part of its efforts to address the spate of malaria-related deaths on the continent, the African Media and Malaria Research Network, AMMREN, held a Media Forum on Saturday 24, eve of the third World Malaria Day (it started as African Malaria Day following the Abuja Roll Back Malaria Summit of 2000), to review progress on the Abuja Declaration targets and to reinforce the fight against the epidemic. The forum, which had for theme “Counting Malaria Out in Partnership with the Media”, is coming just as the US authorities, where the day--April 25--is marked as Malaria Awareness Day, released a six-year strategic plan to combat the scourge on the continent. Another forum was held simultaneously in Kaduna in northern Nigeria.




WMD 2010_AMMREN NG_L-R Guest, 'Timeless' editor Ayo Jeremiah, speaker Dr. Abayomi Afe, Country Coordinator Adeleke Adeyemi, award-winning children's malaria author, Ndidi Enenmor.

In a goodwill message at the forum, held at Timeless Media, AMMREN’s main media partner for the Lagos Forum, the Executive Secretary of the body, Mrs. Charity Binka, based at the award-winning network’s secretariat in Accra Ghana, who was represented by Mr. Adeleke Adeyemi, Country Coordinator of AMMREN Nigeria, said the group has over the years pursued projects to bring to the front burner the fight against malaria in Africa through the use of different media and training tools and through partnering with stakeholders in the fight against the disease. Mr. Adeyemi also reiterated the importance of the ongoing INDEPTH Effectiveness and Safety Studies of Antimalarials in Africa (INESS) Project in selected African countries. INDEPTH is an international organisation involved in the demographic evaluation of populations and their health in developing countries.


Meanwhile, according to Mrs. Binka, “there remains a missing link between the work of malaria researchers to tackle the reality on our hands and media coverage of it that is begging to be bridged,” she said. “This is amply demonstrated by the lack of sustainable media follow up on the Abuja Targets by 2005”, which set out to achieve among others, that 60% children under-five with fever symptoms will have prompt access to care and that 60% of pregnant women will be placed on appropriate medical care to pre-empt malaria in mother and child. Also glaring for tracking are the progressively tougher Abuja Targets By 2010, like reducing malaria morbidity (infection rate) by half of the 2000 levels.


Speaking at the forum, Dr. Abayomi Afe of the of Nigeria (IHVN), affiliate of Institute of Human Virology, Maryland, USA, said in his presentation “Defeating World’s Public Health Enemy Number one (Malaria Facts, Figures & Fallacies)” that about 40% of the world’s population are at risk of malaria; however, due to worldwide climate change, the figure is expected to jump to 60% before long. According to the speaker, the epidemic kills between 1.1 and 2.7 million people every year, 90% of them in Africa. Out of this, one million are children under the age of five, two die every minute.


Dr. Afe further pointed out that between 300 and 500 million clinical cases of malaria occur every year, “80% of them in Africa.” According to Dr. Afe, a review of the Abuja Targets for 2010, due to expire at the end of the year, shows minimal progress in the fight against malaria.


Responding to questions from members of the press and Café Scientifique Nigeria audience the moderator, Ayodeji Jeremiah, editor of Timeless, hinged the continuing prevalence of malaria on the lack adequate coverage by the media all along in the fight. He argued that malaria, which kills more people that HIV/AIDS, simply isn’t getting the attention it deserves; creating that awareness, he stressed, is the responsibility of the media. He called on the media to brace up in the fight against the scourge by being innovative in generating adequate coverage for creating and sustaining buzz on malaria among the populace and indeed all stakeholders.


There was an excerpt reading from a section highlighting the knotty issue of patient compliance and antimalarial drugs provider compliance from the recent Oprah-nominated, rave-making collection of short stories by Nigerian Roman Catholic Jesuit priest Uwem Akpan, “Say You’re One of Them” at the occasion.


AMMREN is a network of African journalists and scientists working together towards the eradication of Malaria in Africa. The group has a membership of over fifty journalists drawn from 10 African countries: Burkina Faso, Gabon, The Gambia, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Nigeria, Senegal, and Tanzania, where a highly successful media sensitisation workshop under the aegis of the INESS Project was held for AMMREN members and communication officers from select malaria research institutes recently.



Sunday, April 25, 2010

Novel Malaria Diagnostics for Improved Patient Support

23 Apr 2010 09:10 Africa/Lagos

Novel Malaria Diagnostics for Improved Patient Support

MUENSTER, Germany, April 23, 2010/PRNewswire/ --


-On World Malaria Day Biotechnology Enterprise Partec Donates Diagnostic Solutions


On the occasion of World Malaria Day on April 25th, German biotechnology company Partec donates 55 fluorescence microscopes and 11.000 patient tests for malaria diagnosis to different countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, including Kenya, Nigeria and Malawi.


Malaria, a disease spread to humans by tropical mosquitoe species and causing symptoms including fever, is endemic in 107 countries with 3 billion people. Over 300 million people are infected by malaria with far more than 1 million death cases annually - including one child every 30 seconds. New reliable diagnostic tools for point-of-care testing therefore play the key role for improving targeted patient support.


The diagnostic solution donated by Partec provides a uniquely easy-to-use, affordable and ultrarapid method for highly sensitive malaria testing by combining a unique class of mobile and battery-operated fluorescence microscopes with ready-to-use test slides, which already carry ready-prepared dried-in reagents on the slide surface, eliminating any need for cold chain and cold storage, as usually required for conventional malaria tests.


"The World Malaria Day is a day of unified commemoration of the global effort to provide effective control of malaria," says Partec's Chief Executive Officer Roland Göhde. "In this context, the new diagnostic technology for the first time opens the opportunity to bring most reliable Malaria testing to almost every patient, especially in remote areas and those regions suffering from a low level of laboratory infrastructure, limited or missing electricity supply and a shortcut of skilled laboratory personnel."


The CyScope fluorescence microscopy technology of Partec has been developed and is being produced entirely in Germany, renowned for the long tradition in manufacturing highest quality precision optics and microscopes.


Since 2002, Partec is active in 100 countries worldwide, providing and implementing complete packages of diagnostic solutions for TB, Malaria and HIV/AIDS, specifically designed to meet the requirements of developing, emerging and resource-constrained countries with limited infrastructure.



Contact:
Christiane Kraus
Chief Operating Officer
Partec GmbH
Am Flugplatz 13, 02828 Gorlitz
Phone: +49-3581-8746-0
Telefax: +49-3581-8746-70
c.kraus@partec.com
http://www.partec.com




Source: Partec GmbH

Contact: Christiane Kraus, Chief Operating Officer, Partec GmbH, Am Flugplatz 13, 02828 Gorlitz, Phone: +49-3581-8746-0, Telefax: +49-3581-8746-70, c.kraus@partec.com


Let’s Join Hands to Fight off Malaria for Good




World Malaria Day 2010, Sunday April 25


A Message from African Media and Malaria Research Network (AMMREN)

By the Executive Secretary, Mrs. Charity Binka

‘Let’s join hands to fight off malaria for good!’

It is here with us – again. The World Malaria Day is a sad, rude reminder that malaria, a preventable disease, continues to parade the world dealing a death blow to many African children and ravaging the resources of the continent.

The Day offers us another opportunity to ponder anew how a disease so primitive continues to reap a grim harvest. According to the World Health Organization’s statistics, more than a million deaths occur annually and more than 80% are estimated to occur in sub-Saharan Africa, mostly among children under five years old and pregnant women.

Despite these challenges, it is gratifying to note that there are many activities including control and preventive strategies coupled with research activities currently going on to support other interventions to contain the disease and eventually eradicate it.

Current control strategies on malaria include early diagnosis and prompt, effective treatment of malaria. There are also preventive activities through the use of insecticide-treated nets and other vector control measures such as residual indoor spraying and environmental management. Others areas are prevention of malaria in pregnancy and the development of new tools through research.

Vaccines, such as the candidate RTS,S are also part of the new tools being developed to deal a death blow to malaria. The INDEPTH Effectiveness and Safety Studies of Antimalarials in Africa (INESS) is also one of the innovative and unique initiatives which have also come on board to support other interventions. INESS is, for instance focusing on antimalarials to ensure their safety and effectiveness in and outside the general health systems in Africa.

These are great milestones we need to be proud of and to commend scientists, researchers and donors for their immense contribution towards the eradication of malaria.


While commending scientists, we want to appreciate Bill Gates for his contribution in funding research into malaria eradication. He is on record to have said: It‘s time to treat the malaria epidemic like the crisis it is. It is unacceptable that 3,000 children die every day from a largely preventable and treatable disease.

Indeed there is a missing link between the work of malaria researchers to tackle this present reality and media coverage of it that is begging to be bridged. It is amply demonstrated by the lack of sustainable media follow up on the Abuja Declaration Targets of60% of children under-5 and pregnant women sleeping under Insecticide-Treated Nets (ITNs) by 2005. The leaders also promised to reduce by25% of childhood fevers which will be correctly managed using IMCI. The Abuja Declaration Targets for 2010 are here with us.

The BIG question is: Can we, by the end of this year, be able to proudly say that the targets to reduce malaria morbidity (disease occurrence) by half (50%) of the 2000 levels and the reduction of malaria mortality (death rate) by 50% of the 2000 levels have been achieved?


Yes we can with commitment on the part of leaders. That is why we must applaud the mission of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the largest donor to malaria to work with partners around the world to reach a day when no human being would have malaria – the very purpose for which African Media and Malaria Research (AMMREN) was born. AMMREN’s major goal is to join hands with partner stakeholders towards the eradication of malaria.

AMMREN seeks to promote communication of malaria research outcomes/outputs and best practices in malaria eradication in Africa through strengthened collaboration between malaria researchers, journalists and stakeholders. AMMREN has a membership of over fifty journalists from 10 African countries: Burkina Faso, Gabon, The Gambia, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Nigeria, Senegal and Tanzania.

This year’s celebration of Malaria Day gives us another opportunity to re-strategise to push malaria out of Africa and the world. AMMREN associates itself with the statement by Bill Gates, the hero of our time that, “It‘s time to treat the malaria epidemic like the crisis it is. It is unacceptable that 3,000 children die every day from a largely preventable and treatable disease”. AMMREN has joined the campaign. This is a clarion call to all to sign up to help realize the goal: Let’s join hands to fight off malaria for good!

African governments must stand up and be counted as we enter the next phase to kick out malaria from the continent. They must not fail us. THEY CANNOT AFFORD TO.

Thank you.