The world’s largest malaria conference began amid crucial concerns that African Governments must increase investments in science technology.

Scientists consented that eradicating malaria will not be easy in Africa without sufficient funding or limited latest technologies for research. They said the fight against malaria will require substantial funding and a complementary arsenal of knowledge and tactics. Senior Researcher at Radboud University, Nijmegen Medical Centre, The Netherlands, Dr Adrian Luty sparked the debate when he challenged the Pan-African governments to take science more seriously.

“If we as a global community are to be ready to achieve eradication, we must invest in science that can guide these efforts and provide the tools and methods that will make success possible,” Dr. Luty said.

“To attain this goal, we must continue to support innovative research while simultaneously addressing barriers to access that keeps so many from receiving life-saving prevention and treatment tools we have right now, “Luty said.
 
The Vice President of Kenya, Kalonzo Musyoka who opened the conference also challenged African Governments to and donors to honor their commitments.
 
He called upon the international community to put more efforts into identifying sustainable ways of facilitating anti –malaria interventions like provision of free malaria bed nets.
 
“Concerted efforts and commitment to fight malaria will help Africa eliminate the scourge otherwise economic growth and development will be greatly curtailed especially in African Tropics, “said Mr. Musyoka.
 
Mr. Musyoka also urged scientists to develop or find new ways to deal with resistance to malaria drugs, insecticides for vector control and develop new innovations that will make it Africa free of the disease.
 
He expressed fears that with inadequate resources many countries were unlikely to meet the 2010 milestones to make interventions universally accessible.
 
Last month, African leaders meeting in New York formed an alliance against malaria whose main objective was to mobilize resources to eliminate malaria deaths by 2015.
 
One of the key goals of the conference is to strengthen African research capacity to guide policies for malaria control and to develop new tools for prevention and treatment.
 
Research conducted in Africa has helped guide new practices, for example, in Rwanda where just 5 years ago malaria was the leading cause of death, said Luty.
 
The developments were as a result of a multi-faceted approach using long-lasting insecticide treated nets (LLINs) and training for community health workers. Subsequently, this has decreased the malaria death rate by 60 percent in just two years, the conference heard. Over the past four years, new strategies coupled with unprecedented global attention and support from endemic country governments have increased access to malaria treatment and prevention for some of the world’s most vulnerable communities.
 
Dr. Francine Ntoumi, the African Malaria Network Trust (AMANET), said malaria has to not been given more prominence just as other diseases like Hiv/Aids. “We must continue to build a critical mass of scientists working on malaria in Sub-Saharan Africa, so that countries with the greatest burden are themselves setting the research agenda, “Said Ntoumi.
 
Due to continued cost and availability challenges, those most at-risk for malaria often have limited access to proven prevention tools, such as insecticide-treated nets and access to the current gold-standard drug, artemisinin-based combination therapies (ACTs). As a result, the disease disproportionately affects poor rural communities in malaria-endemic countries.
 
According to Dr. Solomon Mpoke, Acting-Director of the Kenya Medical Research Institute, (KEMRI), “The threat of increased parasite resistance to the malaria drug artemisinin, and insecticide resistance in mosquitoes, could undo the important progress we have made on malaria,” Over-use of artemisinin monotherapies and irrational use of ACTs themselves are leading to increased drug resistance, the conference heard.
 
Therefore expanding access to insecticides and agricultural use of insecticides is also putting evolutionary pressure on mosquitoes to develop resistance to the most effective malaria control methods available: insecticide-treated nets (ITNs) and indoor residual spraying (IRS). The conference is expected to offer solutions to the” teething” malaria issues. This is the 5th Multilateral Initiative on Malaria (MIM) Pan-African Conference. It has brought together 2,000 researchers, health workers, public health officials, policymakers and activists from across Africa and around the world.