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Some 46 million families at risk have received the nets so far this year, marking a rise of 155 percent from 18 million families in 2006, Global Fund executive director Michel Kazatchkine told journalists.
The Global Fund also provided the financing for effective drugs to treat approximately 44 million people suffering from malaria over the course of the year.
"These figures can and should give great hope to the world," Kazatchkine said.
Cut transmission by 90 percent
He cited a recent study in Zanzibar which showed that
insecticide-treated bed nets and effective medicinal treatment can cut
malaria transmission in high coverage areas by as much as 90 percent.
"These figures are very positive. Insecticide-treated bed nets are one of the key tools to prevent malaria and it is important that everybody living in malaria endemic regions has access to one," said Awa Marie Coll-Seck, the executive director of the Roll Back Malaria Partnership, in a statement.
The Global Fund, a public-private partnership set up by former UN secretary general Kofi Annan in 2002, announced earlier this month it had approved grants worth more than 1.1 billion dollars to fight the three diseases in developing countries over the next two years.
AIDS projects make up 48 percent of the total, malaria 42 percent and TB 10 percent, the Fund said. - (Sapa/AFP)
Read more:
Malaria Centre
November 2007
