Infant death rate goes down

The death rate for children in Tanzania has fallen by more than 25 percent following the implementation of a pilot three-year community project aimed at curbing malaria, the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the World Health Organisation (WHO) reported on Friday. As a result of the project, the proportion of infants sleeping under insecticide treated nets in Tanzania has risen from 10 percent to 50 percent, the UN agencies reported in a statement released to coincide with the Africa Malaria Day. "The good news is that insecticide-treaded bed nets (ITNs) offer substantial protection against malaria. The proper use of ITNs combined with prompt treatment for malaria at community level can reduce malaria transmission by as much as 60 percent and the overall young child death rate by at least one-fifth," UNICEF and WHO reported. As part of activities to mark the Africa Malaria Day, observed across the continent on Friday, UNICEF and WHO released the "Africa Malaria Report", which said the death toll from malaria remained "outrageously high" with more than 3000 African children dying daily. The report said that new effective anti-malarial drugs were not yet accessible to those who need them, and that only a small proportion of children at risk of malaria were protected by insecticide treated nets. The report, launched by Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki in Nairobi, highlighted the need to make effective anti-malarial treatment available to those most at risk. "Malaria continues to tighten its grip on Africa. By scaling up our efforts, we can reverse this trend," Gro Harlem Brundtland, the WHO director-general, said during the launch. The executive director of UNICEF, Carol Bellamy, said malaria killed an African child every 30 seconds, and remains "one of the most important threats" to the health of pregnant women and their newborns. "We have the knowledge and the potential to achieve our target of reducing the global burden of malaria by half by 2010, but we need much greater investment and political commitment," she said.