World Bank’s Booster Program for Malaria Control in Africa has embarked on the design of its second phase (Phase II, 2008 - 1015), which aims to support the RBM Partnership effort calling for the elimination of malaria as a public health threat in Africa and accelerate progress toward the MDGs. The design, led by the region’s Malaria Implementation Support Team (MIRT) is building on key lessons from Phase I and developing the Phase II strategy to capitalize on the comparative advantages of the Bank.   The Booster Program hosted a collaborative consultation meeting in Washington, DC on January 29-30, 2008. The event brought together more than 40 client government representatives, global partners and donors, the private sector, non-governmental organizations, malaria advocates, and World Bank staff to review progress of the Booster Program to date, share challenges and successes, think creatively about priority interventions for Phase II, and agree on specific actions for the Bank that would complement those of other important international actors in malaria control. Read More

The World Bank has approved an additional US$215 million International Development Association (IDA) grant to the Government of Ethiopia to continue supporting the Ethiopia Protection of Basic Services (PBS) Program. The program is financed by several development partners who have contributed over US$800 million thus far. An additional financing of approximately US$375 million is expected of which the World Bank is providing US$215 million. The additional support from the Bank will address the funding gap associated with the completion of core activities including the promotion of the country’s Health Millennium Development Goals (MDG). Of the total amount, US$10 million will finance malaria control interventions through an MDG trust fund .   Ethiopia’s example illustrates the Bank’s comparative advantage in using IDA’s flexibility to fill unexpected gaps and help counties scale-up their efforts in the fight against malaria. Read More

The announcement of the new effort was made in Davos’ World Economic Forum by key leaders in the fight against malaria, including World Bank President Robert Zoellick. The accelerated effort came as a response to the recent report by Malaria No More and McKinsey & Company on behalf of the Roll Back Malaria Partnership (RBM) “We Can’t Afford to Wait: The Business Case for Rapid Scale-up of Malaria Control in Africa”. According to the report, 3.5 million lives could be saved over the next five years through the rapid scale-up of malaria prevention and treatment measures in the 30 hardest hit countries in Africa. Additionally, rapid scale-up would increase annual economic output by as much as $30 billion in Africa, prevent 672 million malaria cases, and free up 427,000 needed hospital beds over five years. The effort will be coordinated through the RBM Implementation Support Team (or MIST), which aims to combine the best practices of public health with the best ideas from the private sector.  Read More

The UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon announced today the appointment of Ray Chambers, a US philanthropist and humanitarian, as his Special Envoy   for Malaria.  Mr. Chambers will help the Secretary-General to raise the issue of malaria on the international political and development agendas including by doing all in his power to reduce child deaths from the disease. Read More

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