Roll Back Malaria Partnership Failed To Control Spread of Disease, Editorial Says
The Roll Back Malaria partnership has failed to control the spread of the disease and possibly has "done more harm than good," according to an editorial in the April 23 issue of the Lancet published in advance of Africa Malaria Day, Reuters reports. RBM was established seven years ago to coordinate international efforts against the disease and includes more than 90 partner organizations, including the World Health Organization, the World Bank and UNICEF. However, RBM has been "ineffective" since the partnership pledged to reduce incidence and mortality rates at a summit in Abuja, Nigeria, in 2000, according to the editorial. "Five years on from the Abuja summit, it is clear that not only has RBM failed in its aims, but it may also have caused harm," the editorial says, adding, "In the seven years since its inception, malaria rates have increased and the organization has accumulated an expansive list of missed opportunities and dismal failures" (Reaney, Reuters, 4/21). Although the first two years of the campaign were successful at drawing attention to the malaria pandemic and doubling international spending on the disease, technical advice from the partnership often has been "inadequate" and "conflicting" because of a "lack of clear division of responsibility among partners," according to the editorial, London's Guardian reports. "For any sort of progress to be made ... the RBM partnership needs strong leadership and a clear signal from all its partners that malaria is a priority. Without this commitment, the history of RBM will become a calamitous tale of missed opportunities, squandered funds and wasted political will," the editorial says (Boseley, Guardian, 4/22).
Reaction
RBM Executive Secretary Dr. Awa Marie Coll-Seck said that the editorial is "unfair" but acknowledged there is "much work" that remains to curb the disease, according to Reuters. "We need more financial support for countries, more technical support and help for capacity building," she said, adding, "We have a lot of things to do, but really, things are moving" (Reuters, 4/21). An unnamed RBM spokesperson "disputed" the editorial's claim that malaria incidence has risen, according to BBC News. The partnership "always said there are between 350 million and 500 million cases, so the upper limit is still the same. Of course we would have liked to have seen more progress but that cannot always be the case," she said, adding, "Huge strides have been made, and I think the partnership has saved lives. If it wasn't for the work we have done, the malaria rate would have been higher."
Additional Articles
The Lancet published several additional research articles in advance of Africa Malaria Day, including a study involving about 1,800 Tanzanian children that found a combination of two standard antimalarial drugs -- artemether and lumefantrine -- is the most effective method to treat the disease (BBC News, 4/21). A second study -- titled "Intermittent preventive antimalarial treatment for Tanzanian infants: follow-up to age 2 years of a randomized, placebo-controlled trial" -- involved about 700 Tanzanian children and found that the standard malaria drug sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine prevented many of the young children from contracting malaria (Agence France-Presse, 4/21). A review article by Brian Greenwood, a professor at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, and colleagues says that the development of an effective malaria vaccine likely is 10 years away. "Malaria vaccine research has progressed rapidly over the past few years, helped by the availability [of] more funds and by improved organization mediated through organizations such as the Malaria Vaccine Initiative," Greenwood said (UPI/Washington Times, 4/21). Links to additional malaria-related articles in the Lancet appear below:
- "The Commission for Africa: a recipe for success?" (Kiely, Lancet, 4/23);
- "Effectiveness trials in African children with malaria?" (Gottfried Kremsner, Lancet, 4/23);
- "Getting Africa on the front page" (Lancet, 4/23);
- "Malaria control in Afghanistan: progress and challenges" (Kolaczinski et al., Lancet, 4/23);
- "Presumptive malaria treatment in immunization programs" (Bates, Lancet, 4/23);
- "Supervised versus unsupervised intake of six-dose artemether-lumefantrine for treatment of acute, uncomplicated Plasmodium falciparum malaria in Mbarara, Uganda" (Piola et al., Lancet, 4/23).