Moving Forward to Defeat Malaria in Tanzania

USAID Mission Director Robert Cunnane

By Robert Cunnane

Malaria remains one of the major public health problems on the African continent, with about 80 percent of malaria deaths occurring in African children under five years of age. 

 I don’t have to tell anyone living in Tanzania that this dreaded disease kills children, reduces worker productivity, and affects educational achievement.  There is no doubt that malaria places a heavy burden on individual families, the national health system and the economic development of the nation over the long term.  

In the past ten years, however, reported cases of malaria have been cut in half in over 40 countries, and estimated malaria deaths have dropped by nearly 330,000.

 It is estimated that these efforts save 485 children each day from dying of malaria.  

Global efforts and strong in-country partnerships between development agencies, host country governments and local organizations are key elements of the strategy to reduce and ultimately defeat malaria.  Successfully removing malaria as a public health threat may be within our reach, but it continues to require an aggressive strategy based on broad partnerships and political will.  This - coupled with determined efforts by communities, families, and individuals who all help to curb the spread of this disease - is the formula for success.

As we observe World Malaria Day on Wednesday, April 25, it’s encouraging to note that in Tanzania substantial progress has been made.  As a result of the determination and commitment of all the stakeholders, government, donors, NGOs and the concerted efforts of informed Tanzanian citizens, malaria is being beaten back.  

In Zanzibar prevalence of malaria in children under five has dropped from 25 percent in 2005 to 0.8 percent in 2010.  On the Mainland 2010 Demographic Health Survey data indicate that the number of households with at least one insecticide-treated net (ITN) increased from 38 percent in 2007 to 63 percent in 2010, and the percentage of children under five sleeping under an ITN the previous night increased from 25 to 64 in the same time frame.  These are just a few of the statistics that offer optimism.

The American people are a committed ally in the fight against malaria.  Between 2003 and 2010, mainland Tanzania collectively received over $450 million in donor support to combat malaria. Out of that figure, the U.S. President’s Malaria Initiative (PMI) provided 33 percent of the funding and 57 percent was provided by the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.  That figure underscores the United States' role as Tanzania's largest donor contributing 33 percent of the total.  The American people have also invested $24 million in Zanzibar through PMI since 2006.

Led by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the goal of PMI is to reduce malaria deaths by 50 percent using the four highly effective interventions of insecticide treated nets, spraying of houses with a safe insecticide, prevention of malaria in pregnant women, and treatment of malaria using a highly effective drug such as artemisinin-based combination therapy (ACT).

In Tanzania, PMI works in coordination with the National Malaria Control Program on the mainland and with the Zanzibar Malaria Control Program, other donors, as well as community and faith based groups who are well placed to deliver services to people in remote areas where formal health systems are weak. Since 2006, contributions from PMI have assisted in a massive increase in the coverage of malaria control measures on the mainland and in Zanzibar.

The U.S. Government has taken extraordinary steps to curb the spread of this preventable and curable disease, but in spite of this progress, malaria prevention and control remains a matter of urgent public health for Tanzania.  

Continued commitment by all of us is needed to sustain the gains made and move forward to defeat malaria.  Through the United States'  new approach to foreign assistance, USAID Forward, we will increasingly rely on Tanzanian leadership and support for the sector which will require increased investments by Tanzania on all fronts – financial, political, and in terms of  human resources.

Investment in malaria reduction is a key part of the U.S. Government’s Global Health Initiative, but the ultimate success of our efforts will be judged by the partnerships we build and sustain.  To borrow a quote from Henry Ford, the American who pioneered the auto industry,   “If everyone is moving forward together, then success takes care of itself.”

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 Robert Cunnane is the USAID Mission Director in Tanzania leading the President’s Malaria Initiative in Tanzania. For more information on the President’s Malaria Initiative consult the website: www.pmi.gov