ADDIS ABABA
The African Union (A.U.) will mark Friday the World Malaria Day, calling for mobilizing efforts and resources to fight the infectious disease.
"The commemorations come at a time when progress in responding to malaria in Africa includes a 49% decline in malaria mortality rates and a reduction of Malaria mortality rates among children by 54% since 2000," the A.U. said in a press release.
According to the pan-African body, 85 percent of malaria cases and 90 percent of malaria deaths worldwide are reported in Africa.
"Increased political commitment and expanded funding have helped to reduce malaria incidence by 31% in Africa," the press release said.
The A.U. called for mobilizing efforts and resources to fight the diseases, saying that there is a $3 billion funding gap to fill in efforts to fight malaria.
"As we project into the future of malaria elimination, we must drive the big push to end malaria through innovative domestic financing models to improve access to prevention, diagnosis and treatment of malaria as well as research," the release quoted Dr. Mustapha Sidiki Kaloko, African Union Commissioner for Social Affairs as saying.
"We cannot and should not continue to rely on external funding for health. The experience of the last few years has shown that external funding is neither predictable nor assured," he added.
Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease of humans and other animals.
According to the World Health Organization, around 627,000 people had been killed by malaria in 2012. Most of the malaria cases and deaths occur in sub-Saharan Africa.
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