Africa Malaria Day kicked off with a surprise for certain African embassies in Pretoria when a group of children delivered letters on giant postcards calling for their governments to drop the tax on mosquito nets, a preventative measure against malaria.
The Drop the Malaria Tax campaign is part of a global move to ensure that 26 African countries honour their commitment made in the Abuja Declaration on the Roll Back Malaria in Africa, which they signed three years ago in the attempt to eradicate malaria.
One of the key commitments was the removal of all taxes and tariffs on insecticide-treated mosquito nets. Of the 43 countries that signed, only 17 have removed the tax. South Africa is one of the 26 that still allows import tax on mosquito nets.
A letter from a Nigerian girl in which she wrote, ”In my village there are far too many young children sleeping with their mothers without protection of a mosquito net because the family simply cannot afford it,” was posted on the Massive Effort Campaign’s website, with hundreds of others.
The Massive Effort Campaign is a global communications organisation tasked with mobilising political and financial support to fight against HIV/Aids, TB and malaria.
Holding copies of the letters, the children and pregnant women in the march finally arrived at the Department of Health in Pretoria where they called on South African government to drop the tax.
A letter addressed to President Thabo Mbeki stated that Tanzania removed all the import tax from nets and ”the result was a dramatic reduction in the price of insecticide nets from $6 to $2,50 and a $12-million grant from the Global Fund”.
”Despite repeated promises from African leaders, United Nations agencies and bilateral donors, Africa’s children have no sanctuary from malaria because treated mosquito nets are simply too expensive,” said Junaid Seedat, MD of Massive Effort Campaign, South Africa. ”African leaders must show the world that they are committed to protecting their children and Africa’s future by fighting this disease.
At the Abuja summit countries committed to ensuring that by 2005 at least 60% of those at risk of malaria will benefit from protective measures that are affordable and accessible.
The World Bank pledged an additional $500-million to fight malaria, but a report released on April 24 found the bank is spending just a fraction of that amount. It was spending an annual average of $44-million on active malaria projects.
”The bank is breaking its promise,” said Louis da Gama, executive director of the Malaria Foundation International. ”According to the report, it has earmarked only another $10-million in additional new money for malaria in Africa since the summit. Worse, additional malaria funds seem to be nowhere in the bank’s project pipeline.”
Africa Malaria Week runs from April 25 to May 2, 2003