Ethiopia gets US financial support to fight malaria

  

The United States has given the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) a $100 million grant to help Ethiopia control the spread of malaria.

The grant will be used to support the country's National Strategic Plan for Malaria Prevention (2011-2015) through the provision of life saving anti-malarial drugs, diagnostic kits, and long lasting insecticide treated nets.


US ambassador to Ethiopia, Donald Booth said: "22 million Ethiopians living in malaria risk areas will benefit from life-saving insecticide treated bed nets, rapid diagnostic tests, and medicine".



The funds will help to buy and distribute 11 million long lasting insecticide treated nets, which will protect 22 million people living in malaria risk areas, procurement of 12.6 million courses of Artemisinin Combination Therapies (ACT) and 16.5 million multi-species Rapid Diagnostic Tests and other anti-malarial drugs.



Official data shows that results regarding malaria prevention and control to date have been encouraging with outpatient malaria illnesses declining by more than 48 percent.

Severe malaria illnesses decreased by more than 62 percent, since 2004.

Ethiopia still records five million clinical cases of malaria every year and the disease accounts for most outpatient visits, hospital admissions and inpatient deaths, according to USAID.



UNICEF representative in Ethiopia Peter Salama said the grant will be disbursed over the next five years.

"The goal is to consolidate the achievements made so far and to contribute to a further reduction of malaria morbidity and mortality in Ethiopia," he said.



Ethiopia's Health minister Kesetebirhan Admasu said: "people know that you can die if you do not treat malaria, but importantly, malaria unnecessarily taxes our population by causing avoidable illness and loss of productivity and limiting our overall economic potential".



"Fighting malaria is a critical investment and we are grateful to our partners the United States government and UNICEF for helping reduce the number of deaths and illness related to malaria in our country," he added.