Nicolas Sarkozy launches international malaria campaign

French President Nicolas Sarkozy on Tuesday launched an international malaria campaign during the opening of a photo exhibit on the disease in Paris, Panapress/Afriquenligne reports.

The campaign, titled "To Decide Is To Win: Together, Let's Make Malaria a Disease of the Past," aims to ensure the availability of malaria drugs for low-income people with the disease, Michele Barzach, project initiator and director of Friends of the Global Fund Europe, said.

Campaign organizers plan to hold a series of meetings among stakeholders in industrialized and developing countries involved in malaria eradication efforts. According to Barzach, the campaign intends "to take advantage of France's position" as chair of the European Union "to exhort the international community to mobilize" against malaria and meet the malaria targets in the United Nations Millennium Development Goals.

The European Alliance Against Malaria, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria and the Roll Back Malaria Partnership are involved in the campaign. The photo exhibit, on display at the Pont des Arts in Paris, features photographs taken by photographer William Daniels that document the impact of malaria in regions most affected by the disease worldwide (Panapress/Afriquenligne, 9/9).

Malaria Advocates Hold Negotiations With Drug Manufacturers To Reduce Price of ACTs

In related news, malaria advocates are holding negotiations with malaria drug manufacturers as part of an initiative by the Affordable Medicines Facility for Malaria to reduce the cost of artemisinin-based combination therapies, Reuters reports. The initiative will encourage drug companies to reduce the price of ACTs to $1 for all first-time buyers and subsidize 95% of the cost for wholesalers. In addition, the agreement aims to increase the size of the market for ACTs to facilitate demand predictions.

Michel Kazatchkine, executive director of the Global Fund, said he is "hopeful" the negotiations will achieve results and enable stakeholders to regulate the market "so that everyone benefits." According to Kazatchkine, although malaria funding has increased in recent years, an additional $1 billion annually is needed to control the disease. He added that it would be "incomprehensible" not to continue malaria eradication because the global health community is "so close to being able to reduce [malaria] really significantly" (Mackenzie, Reuters, 9/9).