Abstract

PIP: Africa is the continent most severely affected by malaria. It is for this reason that the Roll Back Malaria (RBM) initiative has Africa as its main focus. This article examines the efforts, strategies and achievements of RBM in malaria prevention in Africa. It is shown that under the RBM banner two countries from Africa were able to report, by the end of 1999, adequate preparedness for anticipated malaria epidemics in the second quarter of 2000. Four other countries have pushed forward accelerated malaria control activities to cope with the complex emergency situations, and at least 10 others are in the process of doing so. In the field of research, RBM has collaborated with the UNDP/World Bank/WHO Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases (TDR) to work on a number of areas such as product research and home management of malaria. On the other hand, it is noted that the Abuja Plan of Action promotes strengthening of research in particular, development of vaccines and exploration of traditional methods for malaria.