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UN's malaria project damned as `calamitous'

Malaria kills 1 million people every year. Most of its victims are under five. Despite the UN program, the rates of infection in Africa continue to climb, says The Lancet medical journal.

Roll Back Malaria (RBM) is an alliance of more than 90 groups, including the World Health Organization (WHO), the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the World Bank. Its loose structure, without proper leadership or accountability, is blamed for its failures.

For its first two years the campaign successfully drew attention to the toll taken by malaria.

"Its efforts saw international spending double," The Lancet said.

Then in 2000, 53 African heads of state signed the Abuja declaration to halve deaths from malaria by 2010. They looked to RBM to turn advocacy into action, but it was "a challenge too big to face," The Lancet said.

"In the seven years since its inception, malaria rates have increased," the journal said.

The "loose association" of the partnership "inhibited decision-making and limited accountability," it said. Technical advice from the WHO was inadequate and was sometimes conflicting, according to an internal assessment, because of the lack of clear division of responsibility among partners.

"This administrative turmoil cost lives," the journal said, saying RBM had four leaders in five years.

"For any sort of progress to be made ... the RBM partnership needs strong leadership and a clear signal from all its partners that malaria is a priority. Without this commitment, the history of RBM will become a calamitous tale of missed opportunities, squandered funds and wasted political will," the journal said.

The partnership does not deny the journal's claims, but argues that progress was made in the past year.
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