World Bank project helping cut malaria

The first two years of a World Bank-funded project aiming to fight malaria have been a success, a new report has claimed.

The project has launched 19 major malaria booster programs across Africa, affecting 240 million people, at a cost of $500 million (£250 million), the report states.

Launched in September 2005, the World Bank Booster Program for Malaria Control in Africa aims to help cut malaria deaths in Africa by at least 75 per cent before 2015.

"We're seeing that success is possible," said World Bank group president Robert B Zoellick. "A number of sub-Saharan African countries are beginning to significantly reduce deaths and illness from malaria.

"With an additional US$3 billion per year over the next three to five years, elimination of one of Africa's leading killers of children may soon be within reach," he added.

World Bank figures reveal that malaria affects 500 million people annually around the world, with 90 per cent of the one million deaths caused by the disease every year in Africa.

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