Malaria Hinders Economic Development, Political Stability in Developing World, Opinion Piece Says

The discussion of malaria among business leaders attending the World Economic Forum on Africa this week in Cape Town, South Africa, "reflects the global community's growing recognition that malaria ravages the developing world's economic potential," PATH President Chris Elias and Melinda Moree, director of PATH's Malaria Vaccine Initiative, write in an AllAfrica.com opinion piece. According to the World Health Organization, African nations allocate as much as 40% of their health budgets to malaria prevention, control and treatment, the authors write, adding that the disease "kills 2,000 children every day and results in more than one million deaths per year." Without effective measures to control the spread of malaria, "it will be impossible to break the unremitting cycle of disease and poverty in the developing world, a cycle that contributes to the spread of terrorism, corruption and other pernicious consequences," Elias and Moree write. Although the "[r]ecognition of the centuries-old malaria epidemic is a step forward," it is "not enough," according to the authors. "Leaders from the private, public and nonprofit sectors have the opportunity to leave the Cape Town meeting energized by the knowledge that by working together they can make a difference in this seemingly intractable disaster," Elias and Moree write, adding that businesses and governments also should make increased efforts to fight malaria. "Until we have an efficacious and affordable vaccine, we must in unison support increased distribution" of mosquito nets and "demand new and improved regimes of antimalarial drugs to prevent and stave off the effects of the disease," according to the authors. "WEF appropriately recognizes that malaria is a significant deterrent to economic growth and political stability," the authors write, concluding, "We could leave Cape Town content with the knowledge that the region's most influential political, financial and economic leaders talked about malaria. Or we could set the bar higher ... and demand more from our public and private sector leaders and from ourselves" (Elias/Moree, AllAfrica.com, 6/1).