YAOUNDE, March 6 (Xinhua) -- The World Health Organization (WHO) and partners on Wednesday convened a ministerial conference on how to tackle malaria in countries hardest hit by the disease in the Cameroonian capital of Yaounde.
While presiding at the opening ceremony, Cameroonian Prime Minister Joseph Dion Ngute said it is imperative to unite resources to stop people from dying of malaria which is still the number one killer in most African countries.
Inadequate funding remains a major hurdle in the fight against malaria, with the funding gap between the amount invested and resources needed reaching 3.7 billion U.S. dollars in 2022, according to the WHO.
"This Ministerial Conference aims to strengthen political and financial commitments for accelerated malaria responses, with a view to achieving the GTS 2030 targets. (It will) establish a roadmap for increased political commitment and societal engagement in malaria control, with a clear accountability mechanism," the WHO said in a statement announcing the conference.
Ministers of health and senior government officials from the 11 "High burden to high impact" countries in Africa, namely Burkina Faso, Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ghana, Mali, Mozambique, Niger, Nigeria, Sudan, Uganda and the United Republic of Tanzania attended in the conference. They were joined by global malaria partners, funding agencies, civil society organizations and other principal stakeholders.
According to the WHO, globally in 2022, there were an estimated 249 million malaria cases and 608,000 malaria deaths in 85 countries. And Africa was home to 94 percent of malaria cases and 95 percent of malaria deaths. Children under the age of five accounted for about 80 percent of all malaria deaths in the region. ■
