SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA

-- (Credit: FAO)In June, for the first time,
malaria control was included
in the ;agenda of the
Organisation of African
Unity (OAU) Summit in
Zimbabwe. ReportedN, nine
out of 10 cases occur in sub-
Saharan Africa. Campaigners
called upon international
organisations to cooperate in
a 30-year old programme for
developing measures to
eradicate the disease which
claims up to about two million lives per year in the
developing world.

Brian Greenwood of the
London School of Hygiene
and Tropical Medicine said,
"The importance of the OAU
meeting and the statement
on malaria is that it sets the
appropriate political frame-
work for international donors
to put more resources into
malaria. There is a need for a
continuing programme of
basic research. That will
throw up completely new
compounds."

A worldwide appeal to
this effect was recently published in the Nature magazine. The signatories of the appeal urged the North to
build on the experience of
foreign-funded laboratories
in Gambia, Kenya, Senegal
and Mali by making greater
use of African scientists and
workers in vaccine research,
in reporting on transmission
patterns and in field trials of
drugs. Next, a meeting has
been planned this month in
the Hague aiming at tapping
potential donors for anti-
malaria drives.