Commonwealth leaders agree to step up fight against malaria, NTDs

By James Tasamba

KIGALI, Rwanda (AA) - Heads of government of the Commonwealth nations along with business and civil society leaders committed to accelerate progress in the fight against malaria and neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) at a summit Thursday in Rwanda’s capital.

The Kigali Summit on Malaria and Neglected Tropical Diseases, a side event of the Commonwealth leaders, was hosted by Rwandan President Paul Kagame and the Roll Back Malaria (RBM) Partnership to End Malaria, a global platform for coordinated action towards a world free from malaria and uniting to combat NTDs.

NTDs are viral, parasitic and bacterial diseases which primarily affect the world's poorest people and are found in a number of countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America. They are particularly common in tropical areas where people do not have access to clean water or safe ways to dispose of human waste.

Over $2.1 billion in funding commitments was spotlighted through the day’s announcements by the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria as domestic commitments made between 2021 and 2023, Rwandan Health Minister Daniel Ngamije told the summit.

As of today, $1.9 billion has been committed by partners and 18 billion treatments donated by pharmaceutical companies to treat a range of NTDs, Ngamije said.

Melinda Gates, co-chair of the Gates Foundation, said that 15 years after countries called for the eradication of malaria, the Gates Foundation is stepping up its commitment by pledging $140 million over four years to support African institutions fighting malaria.

Novartis, a global health care company based in Switzerland, committed $250 million to prevent, combat and eradicate malaria and NTDs by 2030.

Malaria is a preventable and treatable disease, but every year, it sickens more than 200 million people and kills more than 600,000, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

Most of the victims are young children in Africa, who are the most vulnerable.

Meanwhile, over 1.2 billion people are affected by NTDs, mostly in Africa.

Stressing the need for more funding for malaria control programs, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said community ownership and behavioral change with youth at the center is critical to combat malaria and NTDs.

Prince Charles of Wales said human health and planetary health are fundamentally connected and climate change is increasing the length of the malaria transition season in many parts of the globe.

“The Commonwealth has a vital role to play. While we have achieved so much in the malaria campaign since 2000, I'm afraid that largely due to COVID-19, there remains a great amount to do,” he said.

Ren Minghui, Assistant Director-General for Universal Health Coverage/Communicable and Noncommunicable Diseases at the WHO, outlined the integration of the diseases into primary health care and innovation and development of new response and control tools among the priorities to keep countries on track towards 2030 malaria and NTDs elimination goals.

The summit adopted the Kigali Declaration on Neglected Tropical Diseases, a new high-level political declaration that seeks to mobilize political will and secure commitments to achieve Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 3, which is aimed at ending NTDs among other diseases.

The summit was one of a series of side events of the 26th Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM), which is due to end Saturday in Kigali.

Heads of governments from 54 Commonwealth countries are discussing ways that the contemporary Commonwealth can transform societies.