GENEVA (May 19, 2005)-A major partnership was launched today to demonstrate the enormous potential to save lives with existing malaria control interventions and identify specific ways that African governments can implement malaria control strategies most effectively. Malaria kills an African child every 30 seconds, 3,000 every day. The partnership was announced during the 58th World Health Assembly in Geneva.

The Malaria Control and Evaluation Partnership in Africa (MACEPA) is an in-country collaboration between PATH, the Government of Zambia, and the Zambia Roll Back Malaria Partnership to accelerate and document the impact of progress toward meeting Zambia's malaria control targets. The immediate goals of the partnership are to support coordination of rapid scale-up using proven malaria control strategies-including insecticide-treated bed nets, indoor mosquito control, and effective medication-to reach 80 percent of Zambia's population and to cut deaths due to malaria by 75 percent within three years. The initiative, supported by a new, nine-year US$35 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, is intended to serve as a model for how other African nations can cut malaria deaths dramatically.

MACEPA's global partners include the Roll Back Malaria Partnership Secretariat; the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria; and the World Bank, which are committed to working closely to coordinate country program financing and the provision of technical assistance. With country leadership, MACEPA will provide vital technical support for program planning, implementation, performance monitoring, and the development of impact evaluation systems that will document, in human and economic terms, the importance of continued investment in malaria control in Zambia and serve as a model
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19-May-2005