40 African Heads of State call for urgent debt cancellation to win battle against Malaria

The first ever international summit on malaria took place in Abuja, Nigeria on April 25 and 26. Organised by the World Health Organisation, the summit was attended by 40 African heads of state including including OAU Chair Mr Bouteflika, President of Algeria, Mr Obasanjo, Chair of the G77 and President of Nigeria, President Chissano of Mozambique, President Moi of Kenya and President Rawlings from Ghana. Gro Harlem Brundtlund, Director of the WHO, Professor Jeffrey Sachs of Harvard University, author of the WHO Malaria Report, and Kwesi Owusu, head of the Africa Initiative at Jubilee 2000 also attended.

Figures from international health agencies show that over 400 million people suffer from malaria-related illness every year, and 90% of these are in the African continent. 2,500 children under five die every day from the mosquito-born disease in Africa. At the summit, the links between health and poverty were clearly established. The WHO said that highly malarious countries are among the poorest in the world, and typically have low rates of economic growth.

A new study, by the Harvard University Center for International Development and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, was presented on the first day of the conference, and revealed the true costs of poor health in Africa. Co-author Jeffrey Sachs said that Malaria has cost Africa up to $100 billion in gross domestic product over the past three decades.

The links between debt and health were also made explicit. Sachs pointed out that this year's budget for health in Nigeria, struggling under a huge debt burden of more than $30 billion, is about $3 per capita – scarcely enough to cover the cost of a mosquito net for each of the 110 million population. “This year Nigeria will spend five times its public health budget on debt servicing.” said Sachs.

President Obasanjo, addressing the delegates, stressed the commitment of governments to improving the health of their people, but stressed that the financing gap makes this impossible. He made a direct call to western creditors and international financial institutions to cancel the debts of the poorest countries in full to enable governments to fight the battle against disease in African, particularly malaria – totally preventable, yet one of the continent's most pervasive health problems.

President Obasanjo said: "Malaria costs Africa $12 billion annually and particularly afflicts poor families who have to use up to 25% or more of their income on prevention and treatment. Malaria reduces economic development in Africa by 1.3% annually and has now formed a lethal partnership with HIV/AIDS. We are determined to control and eradicate it, but we are obliged to allocate so much of our lean resources to service debt. The stranglehold of debt on our developmental priorities is such that no realistic anti-malaria efforts - or indeed developmental strategy - is conceivable or meaningful with these debts hanging around our necks."

Kwesi Owusu from Jubilee 2000 and Jeffrey Sachs gave a special briefing on debt and health, attended by Gro Harlem Brundtland, Head of the WHO, and Eduardo Doryan, Vice President of the World Bank. Mr Eduardo faced a barrage of criticism from the media attending, who demanded to know why the debt cancellation process was moving so slowly.

Kwesi Owusu commented: "The plan to cancel $100 billion of the poorest countries debts, agreed at the Cologne Summit last June, is in serious trouble. So far, less than $13 billion of this has been cancelled. Now is the time for urgent action by western creditors. They have to live up to their promises."

The summit adopted a plan of action which included a structure to tackle malaria at all levels in Africa, with an emphasis on simple but effective technologies. Heads of state signed a declaration calling for at least $1 billion a year to be made available to the Roll Bank Malaria initiative in Africa to help achieve the goal of halving malaria deaths during the next decade. The World Bank pledged to provide up to $500 million to help, with EU donations expected to follow.

At the close of the summit, Sachs said “This historic meeting points the way forward to a new development strategy for Africa, one that puts the health and well being of Africans at the centre of the agenda. The African heads of state made it utterly clear that the cancellation in full of the debt of the poor and impoverished countries of the continent is a vital and necessary step to saving lives and improving the well being of all Africans. I deeply hope that the world community will hear the powerful, urgent and accurate message.”

Kwesi Owusu from Jubilee 2000 said: "This is an extraordinary show of unity, of singular purpose and strong commitment to improving health and promoting the well-being of Africa's people by their governments. The African consensus is now abundantly clear. The debt must now be cancelled for a more concerted effort to eradicate disease and poverty to begin."

The international community are committed to targets of halving poverty by 2015, a goal that UN Secretary General Kofi Annan called "but a pipe dream" unless 100% debt cancellation becomes a reality for the poorest countries to allow for proper investment in health, education, clean water and sanitation.