Publications
Partners
The preventable disease claims more than a million lives every year, most of them children under five.
"Every 30 seconds, an African child dies from malaria despite it being a curable and preventable disease, " said Ann Veneman, UNICEF executive director.
More than 80 per cent of malaria deaths occurred in sub-Saharan Africa. Those who survive the disease are often left debilitated, unable to fulfil their potential in school or to earn a living.
Bed nets can help
The disease is easily preventable, by shielding humans from the
mosquitoes that carry and spread the virus. Inexpensive nets to
cover beds can keep many people from contracting the disease.
"The proper use of a 10-dollar bed net has been shown to reduce under-five mortality from all causes by up to 25 per cent," said Veneman.
Efforts to increase use of insecticide-treated bed nets in 2006 made significant progress in Malawi, Rwanda, Senegal, Togo and Zambia.
Ethiopia, a country with around 9 million malaria infections each year, increased the number of nets distributed from 1.8 million in 2004 to 8 million by the end of 2006. The government, UNICEF and other partners, are now aiming for 20 million nets by the end of this year. – (Sapa-dpa)
Read more:
Malaria Centre
Malaria nets for Africa
April 2007
