topnaman | Malaria blog » Advocacy

Malaria Day 2010

naman — Sun, 25 Apr 2010 05:41:43 +0000

It’s world malaria day. In the past year, a combination of sources (papers, program reports, routine surveillance, and stories from workers) suggest malaria cases and deaths are falling in many places. That’s good news indeed.

Malaria day of the Americas 2009

naman — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 13:53:25 +0000

I get a lot of emails about malaria and other global health events. Here’s a recent one that may be of some interest to those living near Washington, DC:

Malaria in the America Forum 2009:
“Counting Malaria Out” towards the 2010 targets and the UN Millennium Development Goals.

Friday, November 6, 2009
1:00pm – 4:30pm
Room B, Pan American Health Organization
525 Twenty-Third Street, NW
Washington D.C.

The Pan American Health Organization, the Pan American Health and Education Foundation and the Center for Global Health at the George Washington University in the 2009 commemoration forum for Malaria Day in the Americas on November 6, 2009 (Friday). We welcome you to take part in an engaging discussion which will highlight the progress of efforts towards achieving global goals and national targets on malaria prevention and control, the challenges of malaria elimination, and resolving various issues on malaria work with mobile populations.

Another reason this caught my eye is I have an old malaria day of the America’s shirt from Guyana. The motto is quite a mouthful! Speaking of mobile populations and Guyana, Bill Brieger at Malaria Free Future has excellently covered both recently.

African leaders pledge to eliminate malaria, again

naman — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 19:01:37 +0000

The African Leaders Malaria Alliance announced during the United Nations general assembly claims it is “the first Head of State-level assembly expressly dedicated to ending deaths from the disease.” Is it just me or does this simply happen every ten years or so? If you also feel a sense of déjà vu it probably stems from the Abuja declaration signed by 44 heads of state (or their representatives) in 2000. OK, maybe the snarky comments are a bit much. Political will is important, but I have little patience for ceremony. At a glance the new alliance is seeking to exceed the goals set at Abuja (eg. No deaths vs 50% reduction) but in a longer timeline (2015 vs 2010). Also of note, according to the website only 11 countries are participating though some reliable sources are reporting 20.

Malaria, pneumonia, and advocacy for health

naman — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 03:23:58 +0000

Sometimes I hate advocates. Anything which smacks of “my disease is more important than yours” is a great way for me to stop listening. Nicholas Kristoff’s blog post on pneumonia importantly highlights the large disease burden and the relatively scant public attention. However, the solution is not to have a world pneumonia day. Nor do we need to justify schistosomiasis control with tenuous evidence on its association with HIV prevalence. I understand what Hotez et al. are trying to accomplish since the latter is a hot issue, but I wonder whether we will be undermined by such messaging in the long run. As a friend of mine said, “Treat schisto to treat schisto. Anything else is icing on the cake.”

We need to move beyond unilateral thinking and organize around broader public health platforms. Unfortunately, this is not as tangible as a single topic, and it doesn’t make a good bumper sticker.

How do we do it?

World Malaria Day 2009

naman — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 13:21:55 +0000

Today is World Malaria Day.

Many more people are aware of this fact in 2009 with the increase in advocacy, particularly in the Western world. Some would say malaria is now “hip”. For others, that’s as much a cause for concern as it is for celebration. In any case I’ll certainly take a minute today to reflect on how far we’ve come, and where we’ll go.

Malaria (and other communicable diseases) in Southeast Asia

naman — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 19:52:45 +0000

I’m an author on an editorial in this month’s Bulletin of the World Health Organization on communicable diseases in Southeast Asia.

Excerpts:

Multidrug-resistant malaria, including artemisinin resistance at the border of Cambodia and Thailand, threatens to jeopardize the provision of effective antimalarial treatment worldwide…

A theme issue of the Bulletin will provide a forum for sharing the region’s successes, and its future opportunities in disease control and research. The issue aims to foster greater international collaboration and partnership. Since the region has such a high communicable disease burden and risk, greater investment and collaboration will benefit not only the communities it serves but the entire world.

It’s not about the importance of SE Asia vs Africa or any other region – that would be silly. We take a brief snapshot of accomplishments, current challenges, and recent innovations in SE Asia to highlight the value of investment in control, elimination, and research. All in all, its an impressive rate of return. The practical point of the editorial is to provide the rationale for a full region-specific Bulletin issue. It’s a call for papers and the resultant issue should be a great forum for anyone interested in reaching a broad audience.

World malaria day

naman — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 14:34:36 +0000

Today is world malaria day. It’s a day of advocacy and reflection. We have powerful tools against malaria (IRS, ITNs, combination therapies) and the disease is once again in the public eye. Thus, despite the challenges – which are both numerous and profound, a powerful sense of optimism remains. Let us seize the opportunity.

UN appoints malaria envoy

naman — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 03:52:45 +0000

Ray Chambers, a successful US businessman and philanthropist, was named the UN special envoy for malaria by Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon. Chambers has been charged with a monumental task – to raise $8-$10 billion dollars for malaria control over the next five years and bring malaria mortality as close to zero as possible.

Such grand, disease-specific goals often raise concerns regarding sustainability and the vertical versus horizontal program debate inevitably arises. It’s an argument I find somewhat artificial. Immediate gains have broader and longer impacts than we realize, and there is a limit (biological and logistical) to decentralizing control measures. Humanitarian aid and the sustainable reduction of transmission must be considered together.

Ultimately, these efforts should strengthen overall health infrastructure so broader gains in preventing child mortality are realized. Godspeed Mr. Chambers. Godspeed.