Canadian malaria initiative to save the lives of thousands of African children
(Ottawa, April 23, 2004) — To highlight Africa Malaria Day on April 25, the Honourable Aileen Carroll, Minister for International Cooperation, today announced a contribution of over $ 4.3 million to the Canadian Red Cross for a bednet distribution program that will help reduce child mortality rates in Togo, West Africa. Funding for this initiative will be provided by the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA).
"This pledge demonstrates Canada's commitment to achieving the Millennium Development Goals of reducing the mortality rate among children under five and halting and reversing the spread of infectious diseases," Minister Carroll said.
The initiative announced today will help to ensure, for the first time on a national scale, that every child under five years of age in Togo, as well as all pregnant and breast-feeding mothers, have a treated bednet to sleep beneath. The bednets will provide protection against mosquito bites that transmit malaria. The initiative is expected to save the lives of thousands of children and to reduce disability caused by malaria, as well as school and work time lost due to the disease. It builds on the successes of similar Canadian efforts in countries such as Ghana and Zambia that have shown that treated bednets are an effective method for malaria prevention.
Africa Malaria Day 2004 marks the fourth anniversary of the Abuja Declaration when African heads of state and governments agreed to achieve specific targets on malaria prevention and control. In particular, halving the incidence of malaria in Africa by 2010. Sub-Saharan Africa faces the highest malaria prevalence rates in the world — the disease is also the number-one killer of children under five years of age.
"We applaud CIDA's commitment to address the enormous problem of malaria in Africa and appreciate the contribution to our malaria prevention program in Togo," said Dr. Pierre Duplessis, Secretary General, Canadian Red Cross. "We know from having distributed 80,000 bednets in Zambia last year that bednets do save lives."
CIDA continues to be a strong supporter of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria and has committed US $ 100 million over four years (2001-02 to 2004-05) to the Fund. Most recently, the Government of Canada introduced amendments to Bill C-9, the Jean Chrétien Pledge to Africa Act, to help developing countries access lower-cost medicines for HIV/AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis and other epidemics that are ravaging developing countries, especially in Africa.
- 30 -
Information: Andrew Graham
Director of Communications
Office of the Minister for International Cooperation
Telephone: (819) 953-3160
Media Relations Office
Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA)
Telephone: (819) 953-6534
E-mail: info@acdi-cida.gc.ca
Web site: www.cida.gc.ca (electronic version of document)
Suzanne Charest
Communications Officer
Canadian Red Cross
Tel: (613) 740-1928
Cel: (613) 222-6196
