Walvis Bay
Namibian ambassador of the Malaria Elimination Initiative (E8) Dr Richard Kamwi says the country’s goal to eliminate malaria is not a far-fetched ambition, but an attainable goal.
E8 is an eight-country coordinated effort intended to eliminate malaria in at least four southern African countries by 2020.
The southern African E8 member states that want to eliminate malaria by 2020 are Botswana, Namibia, South Africa and Swaziland. Those planning to eliminate malaria by 2030 are Angola, Mozambique, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
Former health minister Kamwi was speaking at the official opening of a five-day workshop currently underway at Walvis Bay.
The workshop is being attended by medical doctors and other specialists instrumental in the fight against malaria, representing E8 member countries.
Kamwi says Africa has already made significant progress in this respect, which resulted in a paradigm shift in the approach to malaria in SADC.
“Therefore, the elimination of malaria is not seen as a lofty goal, or something that would be nice to have, but as an imperative and only option.
“There is no reason why a pregnant mother busy giving birth should die of malaria or a five-year-old child should die, while we have the ways and means to fight malaria and the backing of our countries,” he explained.
He added that the vision to have a vibrant regional partnership makes elimination of malaria in the sub-Saharan region possible.
Kamwi says recognising that the progress, or failure, of one country is connected to the success of the other affected countries, the E8 initiative was established in 2009 to coordinate a collaborative effort, led by the region’s ministers of health.
“At that time, the concept of eliminating malaria in our region was a far-fetched dream. While progress in the last 15 years has been dramatic due to aggressive scale-up of treated nets, indoor residual spraying and more effective drug treatments, the eight southernmost countries have now reached the endgame,” he said.
To overcome a more sophisticated challenge of eliminating malaria, countries require advanced tools and strategies to limit parasite movement across borders, as well as more refined disease intelligence to reach the finish line, he argued.
“We have effectively mobilised close to N$300 million for 2016-2018 from the Global Fund and the University of California to support this important regional goal. Let’s all strive towards our goal, which is to eliminate malaria from Africa,” he concluded.