Highlighting the dangers of malaria - Jo Yirrell at DFID

12 June 2009

Mike Foster meets Jo Yirrell, Special Ambassador for Malaria No More

Every year some 247 million people are infected with malaria and 881,000 people die from the disease.  85% of all malaria deaths are among children under the age of five and Africa accounts for 90% global malaria deaths.

On the 20 April 2009, Malaria No More UK visited No 10 as part of their launch which was supported by the Prime Minister and Douglas Alexander, the Secretary of State for International Development.

The story of Jo Yirrell, Special Ambassador for Malaria No More UK,  shows that malaria does not only affect people living in developing countries but also people from the UK.

The BBC filmed Jo for a documentary to be shown on 13 and 14 June as she re-traced the steps of her son, 20-year-old semi-professional rugby player Harry, who had gone as a volunteer to the West African village of Brenu in Ghana in 2005. Harry went out fit and healthy, but came home having unknowingly contracted the deadliest strain of malaria. After ten days fighting for his life he tragically died in July of that same year.

Jo’s visit to Ghana this year was also supported by DFID where support to the health sector is a key part of our programme.

International Development Secretary, Douglas Alexander, said:
 
"Jo is doing an incredible job in highlighting the dangers of malaria - which is a preventable disease.
 
"The simple fact is that bednets save lives. The UK has taken an active role in reducing the human toll of malaria. Our priority has been to provide families with free or low-cost bed nets and to make it easier for people to get prompt, effective treatment. Last year we made a commitment to distribute 20 million bednets worldwide by 2010 and our funding to the Global Fund has delivered 74 million malaria treatments."

More recently Jo met with the International Development Minister, Mike Foster to discuss her campaign

Action to tackle malaria is a top priority for DFID. In April 2008 the Prime Minister pledged to provide 20 million bed nets by the end of 2010.  Since then we have delivered 9.7 million nets and a further 1.9 million are on their way. Most of these nets are going to countries where malaria is a big problem – such as Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, Nigeria and Ethiopia.

And we are seeing results. In Ethiopia the number of childhood malaria cases reported at clinics fell by 60% and the death rate has been halved within two years. In Rwanda deaths and cases of malaria in children under five fell by over two thirds in two years and in Zambia, more than a third of under 5s now sleep under a net compared to the 16% in 2002. In Nigeria, DFID support forms part of a national campaign to distribute two bed nets per household to 30 million households between May 2009 and December 2010.

As in Harry’s story, many cases of death by malaria can be prevented by access to medicine to prevent and treat malaria. As well as supporting the provision of bed nets, DFID is working in a number of ways to tackling malaria.

What DFID is doing

DFIDs efforts to tackle malaria includes providing:

• £6 billion to 2015 to strengthen the health systems of poor countries, which includes prevention and treatment of malaria.
• up to £1 billion funding to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria;
• £20 million last year for UNITAID – the global drug purchase initiative;
• £50 million to date to the Roll Back Malaria Partnership to support the Global Malaria Action Plan;
• £40 million for the Affordable Medicines Facility for Malaria (AMFM) which will make effective malaria drugs more available and affordable in the public, private and NGO outlets.