Govts challenged to do more against child killer diseases

African governments have been called on to provide vulnerable groups with free anti-malarial drugs, insecticide treated bed nets (ITNs) and essential medicines for childhood diseases.

The recommendations, made on Friday, followed a conference hosted by the World Health Organisation (WHO) in the Mozambican capital, Maputo, on how to strengthen health systems to fight malaria and childhood illnesses.

Dr Fred Binka, chairman of the joint task forces on malaria and integrated management of childhood illnesses, told a press conference that child mortality could be halved with the available knowledge and interventions.

"Our governments must take the initiative to protect the lives of our people - it is a cause that can be won. That is why some of us are persistent in hoping that we will in the end make malaria and other childhood illnesses something that generations [in the future] will read about and won't be afraid of," he said.

Other recommendations at the 21 to 24 September meeting included stepping up health sector reform, such as decentralisation and getting the private sector better involved in the development of health policies and strategies.

Binka noted that, on the whole, research was improving, and funding was becoming available through the Global Fund for Malaria, Tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS. "There are still bottlenecks - the disbursements of these funds could improve," he said. "We expect that the coming years we will have effective delivery of these interventions."

Ninety percent of malaria deaths reported worldwide occur in Africa, most of them among children. WHO said the proper use of ITNs could reduce transmission by 60 percent and child deaths by one-fifth. It recommended that children under five and pregnant women, who were at most risk of malaria, should receive these nets either free of charge or at hugely subsidised prices.

Binka said some African governments were beginning to remove taxes on ITNs and were training health workers. But, he added, "Our governments can still do more ... We are making some progress; there is a lot more to do be done for us to achieve the goals."

He told IRIN that Mozambique's experience of moving away from chloroquine, increasingly ineffective against malaria, demonstrated the challenges faced by cash-strapped governments. "That is a huge undertaking. Most countries have not done that so far ... You need to retrain everybody; you need to bring in new drugs and re-establish the system."