Malaria takes heavy economic toll in Africa

Africa's GDP would be up to 32 percent (US $100 billion) higher this year if malaria had been eliminated 35 years ago, says a report released on Tuesday by WHO, Harvard University and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. "The evidence strongly suggests that malaria obstructs overall economic development in Africa," the report's co-author, Jeffrey Sachs, told the African Summit on Roll Back Malaria (RBM) which was held in Abuja, Nigeria, on Tuesday. Roll Back Malaria, a campaign launched in 1998 by WHO, is aimed at halving deaths from malaria - which kills up to a million people in Africa annually, according to WHO - by the year 2010. [See separate item titled 'HEALTH: Malaria costs Africa billions of dollars, report says']