Livingstone, May 20, 2008 -- The bicycle race started four days earlier in Serenje in northern Zambia and ended to a heroes welcome on April 25 – the first ever World Malaria Day -- in the southern city of Livingstone. Among the 31 cyclists who participated in the Race Against Malaria was Peter Chintu. Chintu rode the marathon for his son.
“I ride for my beloved son Abraham Chintu who died of malaria at Mazabuka Hospital on July 13, 1996,” said Chintu. “He was only four years old; I put him on my back and cycled him to the hospital. Although he was immediately put on treatment, it was too late.”
According to Chintu, there are many Peters in the world whose deaths can be prevented. Worldwide, Malaria kills nearly 3,000 children every year, according to the World Bank’s Booster Program for Malaria Control in Africa.
Cyclists in Zambia's Malaria Day race.
As Chintu and his cycling team arrived in Livingstone, so too did the Zambezi River of Life Expedition. The expedition began a 2500 kilometer journey down the Zambezi on March 29, 2007. Traveling in canoes, its team stopped in six Southern African Development Community (SADC) countries treating and distributing insecticide-treated mosquito nets to communities along the riverbank.
The month-long expedition aimed at drawing global attention to the deadliness of malaria and to efforts to control it in the southern Africa region.
On hand for Zambia’s Malaria Day celebrations were the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Health Ministers led by Zambia’s Minister of Health Dr. Brian Chituwo. Also present were Belgium’s Princess Astrid and UNICEF Malaria Goodwill Ambassador Yvonne Chaka Chaka.
Zambia has every reason to recognize World Malaria Day. In two years, the country has made strides in the fight against the disease. According to a recent study by the World Health Organization, Zambia has shown a decline of 33 percent in child deaths due to malaria after the start of a scaled-up prevention program in 2006.
“This is no mean achievement in a country where the disease is responsible for more than 40 percent of all childhood deaths,” said World Bank Country Manager for Zambia Kapil Kapoor.
Any additional resources, according to Kapoor, will provide an important opportunity to scale up several interventions such as Indoor Residual Spraying, the provision and treatment of bed nets, epidemic preparedness and the development of a communication and behavioral change strategy.
On 30 April 2008, Zambia joined the World Bank and Russia in a tripartite agreement aimed at furthering the Malaria Booster Program, a program aimed at reducing incidences of the disease.
It is estimated that the adverse economic impact of malaria on Zambia’s economy amounts to approximately 1.5 percent of GDP per year.
RSS