Optimism and urgency have become the driving words of the global campaign  to  eliminate  malaria  and  consign  to  history  the  age-old disease which continues to claim thousands of lives every year. These words 'optimism and urgency' were appropriate as the theme for the O2011 Seattle Malaria Forum.

This is an acknowledgement of the good results achieved through increased investment in malaria control over the last decade.

One  billion  lives  have  been  saved  through  the  use  of  bed  nets,  indoor  and outdoor  spraying  and  artemisinin-based  combination  therapies.  The  long-lasting insecticidal net (LLIN) has particularly proved most effective.

The world is now on the verge of getting a malaria vaccine to enhance the drive towards eliminating the disease. Research into the RTS,S malaria vaccine has produced  impressive  initial  results  among  five  to  17-month-old  children, preventing clinical malaria by 56 per cent and severe malaria by 47 per cent.

Trials are on-going and efficacy and safety results in 6 to 12 week-old infants are expected  by  the  end  of  2012.    Going  by  the  RTS,S  schedule,  the  vaccine  is expected to be licensed and ready to start saving lives by 2015.

But  while  waiting  for  that  to  happen  it  is  even  more  important  that  we  focus attention on scaling up the effective tools we have now.

Fortunately, funding for malaria control has increased over the last decade.  The number of people who die from malaria has also declined 20 per cent. But the fact that there still remains 80 per cent of the global malaria burden calls for a sense  of  urgency.  The  partnership  of  researchers,  academia,  donors  NGOs, private  and  public  businesses  has  to  be  strengthened  to  ensure  even  better results.

What  is  needed  now  is  commitment  from  governments  to  launch  a  final onslaught on this deadly disease. The heavy investment into malaria must be complemented  by  governments  allocating  more  personnel  and  resources  in endemic  countries.  Success  in  health  will  only  come  with  the  expansion  and modernisation in the health sector.

Governments  must  also  remove  taxes  and  tariffs  on  malaria  commodities  to save lives.

Indeed, this is the time to apply optimism and urgency because we know where we are going and how to get there.

Editorial Team
Charity Binka  - Managing Editor
Carlton Cofie   -  Editor
Eunice Menka - Assistant Edito