Dangote, Bill Gates, Others Inaugurate Platform To End Malaria
The struggle to end malaria in Nigeria has entered a new global phase with Nigerian champion of the struggle, the president of Danngote Group, Aliko Dangote teaming up with other influential private and public leaders.
At the just concluded World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, the platform, End Malaria Council, was formed to ensure malaria eradication assumes a top global priority.
The End Malaria Council is meant to drive global attention and funding to wipe out the disease for good.
Dangote, has always canvassed for concerted efforts to rid Nigeria and Africa of malaria which he said decimates the African workforce and the young ones, thus slowing down its economic growth.
According to him, the world without malaria is possible and that it is a challenge to all
Other prominent persons on the Council with Dangote are Bill Gates, co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and Ray Chambers, the United Nations Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for Health in Agenda 2030 and for Malaria and six others.
Dangote, who has been using his Dangote Foundation as a platform to fight malaria said the inauguration of the Council is another critical milestone in the fight against malaria, promising to join others to collectively tackle malaria saying he was ready to commit himself and his resources into the fight.
He described malaria as a preventable disease and therefore all should be done to collaborate on how to deal with it.
While expressing happiness that successes are being recorded with the active support and participation of world leaders in government and business, the Nigerian Malaria ambassador noted the success achieved so far was key to stimulation of the nation’s economy as the potential productive sector of the population are the vulnerable groups.
In his comment on the Council, Bill Gates said that “For the first time in history, we have a roadmap to a world without malaria, where no one has to die from a mosquito bite ever again. With renewed focus, innovation and new commitments of leadership and funding, we can be the generation to end malaria once and for all.”
The launch of the End Malaria Council comes just a month after the release of the World Health Organisation’s 2016 World Malaria Report, which showed remarkable progress in reducing cases and deaths from malaria since 2000, but also underscored the urgent need for global leadership, new funding and innovation to stay on track to meet targets.
Members of the End Malaria Council are expected to work in collaboration with the Roll Back Malaria Partnership and other key partners to help countries and regions achieve their malaria control and elimination goals.
The Council has nine founding members, a group of whom met on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos, Switzerland to discuss strategies for filling critical financing gaps in Africa, Asia and Latin America. The End Malaria Council will grow to represent all of the key malaria-endemic regions. Inaugural members include.
