€ 17 million Global Fund grant will help combat malaria in the Brazilian Amazon
17 November 2009
Geneva – Communities from 47 towns in Brazil’s Amazon Region will benefit from a € 17 million Global Fund grant to treat and prevent malaria in the next two years. The total lifetime value of the grant is € 37 million, to be spent over five years.
The grant aims to halve the number of cases by 2014 in the selected areas.
The resources will fund the Project for Malaria Prevention and Control in the Brazilian Amazon, which has been launched on Monday (November 16) in Manaus (State of Amazonas’ capital) by the Minister of Health, José Gomes Temporão. In Brazil, 99% of malaria transmission takes place in the Amazon region.
The Global Fund to Fight Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria has approved € 17 million for the grant’s first phase. The second phase is awarded after two years, and is conditional on a positive evaluation of the work already done. The grant will be implemented by the Amazonas Tropical Medicine Foundation and the University of São Paulo Medical School Foundation, starting in 2010.
Around 70% of malaria transmission in Brazil in 2007 took place in the 47 Amazon towns selected to benefit from the grant.
The project will carry out faster diagnosis, early and effective treatment and distribution of long-lasting insecticidal mosquito nets. To achieve that, the grant implementers will rely on community-based organizations and leaders.
“The role of the community leaders is essential to ensure the acceptance and use of mosquito nets, as well as to encourage people to look for early diagnosis and follow the treatment”, said José Ladislau, coordinator of Brazil’s National Programme for Malaria Control.
Brazil is currently implementing another Global Fund grant, focused on tuberculosis. Started on May 2007, the grant is now entering the second phase.
“I am glad we are able to support Brazil in the fight against malaria, a serious threat to the people living in the Amazon region”, said Professor Michel Kazatchkine, the Executive Director of the Global Fund. “I hope our collaboration continues and expands, helping Brazil to reach the health-related Millennium Development Goals.”