STORM2K

April 25 2003 at 06:05AM
Nairobi - Malaria is killing three thousand children a day in Africa, nearly double the number of a decade ago, says a report to be published by the United Nations today.

The report, by the United Nations Children's Fund (Unicef) and the World Health Organisation, says the cheapest and most widely used anti-malaria drug has become "almost totally ineffective" in fighting the mosquito-borne disease.

"Malaria causes at least one-fifth of all child deaths in Africa," says the 2003 Africa Malaria Report.

The report says malaria "makes substantial demands on Africa's fragile health infrastructure", accounting for one-third of all visits to clinics.

"Left to its present course, malaria is set to escalate into a major crisis," the report says.

But the authors say the spread can be reversed by wider use of bed nets treated with insecticide, by treating children promptly and by protecting pregnant women with drugs.

Statistics show 90 percent of all deaths from malaria occur in sub-Saharan Africa, and over 95 percent of those are children. Only 15 percent of African children sleep under a net. - Sapa-DPA



This article was originally published on page 5 of The Cape Times on 24 April 2003