MMV welcomes the publication of the latest World Malaria Report (2009) as well as the UN Resolution related to "A decade to Roll Back Malaria" that the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted on Monday 08 December 2009.

The latest World Malaria Report provides a summary of progress towards the 2010 and 2015 targets, aimed at malaria control and elimination, set out in the 2008 Global Malaria Action Plan. It states that significant progress has been made in delivering malaria nets and treatments over the last few years, and that intensive efforts at malaria control could help many African countries to reach, by 2015, a two-thirds reduction in child mortality as set forth in the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

However, coverage still needs to be dramatically stepped up in order for our ambitious goals to be met. The funding available to scale-up malaria control interventions still falls woefully short of the US$ 5 billion required annually to achieve maximum impact.

The World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General, Dr Margaret Chan, described the findings in the report as cause for cautious optimism.

In the UN Resolution, the General Assembly calls upon the international community to support the Roll Back Malaria (RBM) Partnership and its Secretariat, urging for support of the implementation of the Global Malaria Action Plan (GMAP), "including through support for programmes and activities at the country level in order to achieve internationally agreed targets on malaria."

Download the World Malaria Report 2009 on the WHO website [PDF: 7.5Mb]