African leaders fail on promise to drop malaria tax
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Massive Effort Campaign - A Global Movement Against AIDS, TB and Ma-
laria
In spite of the �Abuja Declaration� two years ago, 26 African coun-
tries still tax the importation of mosquito nets
�Drop the Malaria Tax� campaign launched today at:
http://www.MassiveEffort.org
Two years ago, African leaders pledged to drop import taxes on
treated mosquito nets in an attempt to reduce the continents� enor-
mous malaria epidemic. On the second anniversary of their meeting,
fewer than half have kept that promise.
In a declaration made in Abuja, Nigeria on 25 April 2000, Africa�s
leaders pledged to reduce the cost of protecting mothers and their
children from mosquitoes. Of the one million people who die from ma-
laria in Africa each year; the majority are children and pregnant
women.
According to the Massive Effort, a global initiative that is mobiliz-
ing society to fight AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria, 26 countries
still have not removed taxes and tariffs on treated mosquito nets.
Responding to this lack of political commitment, the Massive Effort
is waging a �Drop the Malaria Tax� campaign. Information on the cam-
paign can be found at:
http://www.MassiveEffort.org
�Africa�s leaders must be held accountable to their promises,� said
Louis Da Gama, Director of Malaria Foundation International and
spokesperson for the campaign. �They have it in their power to drop
these taxes and to do more to fight malaria in their countries.�
Treated mosquito nets are considered one of the most effective meth-
ods for reducing malaria transmission and preventing death. Research
in sub-Saharan Africa, where most of the world�s annual 300 million
malaria cases occur, shows that using treated mosquito nets can re-
duce malaria occurrence by at least 20% among children.
Cost and availability are the major barriers to the use of treated
mosquito nets. In the majority of African countries, import duties
increase the price of treated mosquito nets by more than 30%, which
can amount to a day�s wages in Africa. Removing the taxes on these
nets and the materials required to produce them would reduce the
price significantly and make them much more affordable to poor house-
holds.
The Abuja Declaration to Roll Back Malaria in Africa, signed on 25
April 2000 by African leaders, states that: �We, the Heads of State
and Government of African countries �pledge to reduce or waive taxes
and tariffs for mosquito nets and materials, insecticides, anti-
malarial drugs and other recommended goods and services that are
needed for malaria control strategies. �
During the conference, Botswana�s President, Festus Mogae, stated
that, �For too long the focus on malaria control has been almost ex-
clusively on the health implications of the diseases without address-
ing some of the fundamental determinants of the vulnerability of many
communities to malaria. These include �. poor accessibility of health
services to those most in need.� Two years later, the Botswana gov-
ernment still charges taxes on treated mosquito nets.
Likewise, the promise of Togo�s President Gnassingbe Eyadema two
years ago to �mobilize all good will, all energy and initiatives� in
order to vanquish malaria has not brought an end to taxes on treated
mosquito nets in his country, even though malaria is the leading
cause of sickness and hospitalization in Togo.
The 26 countries that have failed to drop taxes on treated mosquito
nets are Angola, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Central African Re-
public, Congo, Republic Democratique du Congo, Djibouti, Equatorial
Guinea, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau,
Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritania, Niger, Rwanda, S�o Tom� & Pr�ncipe,
Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, Swaziland and Togo.
The 17 countries that have removed taxes and tariffs on treated mos-
quito nets are Benin, Cameroon, Chad, Cote d`Ivoire, Ghana, Kenya,
Liberia, Mali, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Senegal, Sudan, Tanza-
nia, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
According to a recent study, sub-Saharan Africa's GDP could have been
up to 32 percent greater now if malaria had been wiped out over the
past decades. This would represent up to 100 billion dollars added to
sub-Saharan Africa's current GDP of 300 billion dollars. The extra
amount is almost five times all development aid provided to Africa
last year.
There are over 300 million cases of malaria worldwide each year, with
nearly 1.1 million resulting in death. Over 90% of these cases and
deaths occur in sub-Saharan Africa. The majority of those who die are
children aged under five years. They die because they are unprotected
from mosquito bites and are not treated quickly enough with anti-
malarial drugs to prevent the disease from killing them. Currently,
however, less than 5% of children at greatest risk of the disease
sleep safely under these nets. The cost of a treated mosquito net av-
erages US$ 4.00 per net.
The �Drop the Malaria Tax� campaign is organized by the Massive Ef-
fort. The Massive Effort is a global non-profit network that uses
state-of-the art advocacy, communication and marketing strategies to
mobilize society to reduce TB and malaria deaths in half, and HIV in-
fections by 25%, by the year 2010.
For further information, contact
Louis Da Gama in the U.K. at Tel: +44-208-248-7833;
Jim Palmer in the U.S. at Tel: +1-202-262-9823;
Patrick Bertrand in France at Tel: +33-6-6004-0442; or
Arcay Communications in South Africa at Tel: +27-11-480-8555
--
Patrick Bertrand
mailto:p.bertrand@noos.fr
--
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