Int'l confab on malaria control opens Monday in Mali

Bamako , Mali - An international five-day conference on malaria control will open here Monday, organisers told PANA Saturday.

The meeting will bring together about 100 experts from Europe, the US and Africa, who are involved in the fight against malaria, they said.

It seeks, among other things, to "enhance the working in concert by the major actors in the fight against malaria particularly in information sharing, planning and setting up of priorities".

Organisers are planning to call for "a greater political support" from Malian President Amadou Toumani Touré, as part of the efforts to fight against malaria, a disease which is a major public health problem mainly in Africa, where it kills one million people annually.

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), the disease is taking a heavy toll among children under five years old and pregnant women.

Malaria represents 33 per cent of the complaints in the health centres in Mali and children below five account for 34.4 per cent of the cases.

Bamako - 27/10/2007

 

Source/ Credit: Panapress