Common Wealth Countries have agreed to further enhance efforts to deal with threats posed by the spread of malaria, particularly in developing nations.
On the sidelines of the meeting of Heads of State and Government held in London, on 19th April 2018, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Cooperation and East African Community Louise Mushikiwabo delivered a speech at the Malaria Summit. The aim of the Summit was to highlight the stalled progress in fighting this disease, which has been in existence for millions of years.
In her remarks, Minister MUSHIKIWABO highlighted some measures taken by the Rwandan Government to eradicate malaria in the country, like home-based management, by making use of our network of tens of thousands of volunteer Community Health Workers, whose main job is monitoring child and material health.
She said: “So we did two things. One, we switched to home-based management, by making use of our network of tens of thousands of volunteer Community Health Workers, whose main job is monitoring child and material health. And two, we made treatment free.”
Mushikiwabo added that more than one-fifth of Government expenditure in Rwanda is directed at health, a level government plan to maintain, and indeed increase, in the years ahead.
Minister Mushikiwabo also encouraging the commitment to cut malaria in half, across the Commonwealth, and she said that this would be an important stepping stone toward the African Union’s goal of a malaria-free Africa, by 2030.
The Malaria Summit saw 14 heads of state and government, scientists and private sector and international organizations making significant commitments to catalyze progress towards beating malaria at a time when efforts to end the preventable disease have stalled.
The Express News
