Windhoek, 19 April 2011 -- WHO Director General Dr Margaret Chan will touch down on 23 April 2012 for a four-day visit to Namibia. Dr Chan’s visit coincides with World Malaria Day, 25 April which will be commemorated under the theme, “Sustain Gains. Save Lives. Invest in Malaria.” The high-level mission will focus on efforts to accelerate malaria control and elimination, among other priority issues.

Dr Chan will meet His Excellency, President of Namibia, Hifikepunye Pohamba; Right Honourable Prime Minister Nahas Angula; First Lady of the Republic of Namibia and Patron of Maternal and Child Health, Ms Penehupifo Pohamba; Minister of Health and Social Services, Dr Richard Kamwi, parliamentarians, donors and representatives of the private sector. Priority issues will include enhancing cross border health collaboration with neighbouring countries. Also expected are discussions on health financing, given the Global financial crisis’ impact on malaria funding.

World Malaria Day (WMD) will be commemorated in Oshakati, one of the malaria endemic regions of Namibia. The overall aim of the Day will be to focus the attention of policy-makers, donors, partners and the wider public on the need to sustain progress in malaria prevention and control and to continue scaling up malaria interventions towards malaria elimination.

Prevention efforts through long-lasting insecticide treated mosquito nets and indoor residual spraying have contributed to a significant reduction of malaria cases and deaths. In the WHO African region, malaria death rates have dropped by a third during the past decade, However, malaria transmission still occurs in about 100 countries around the world – killing an estimated 655,000 people every year – mainly children under five years of age. While progress has been significant, these gains are fragile. As the effects of the financial crisis ripples across continents, donors and institutions, WHO urges governments, donors and intuitions to stay on course and commit funding to sustain and accelerate the gains made to save lives. Funding malaria interventions is a sound financial investment that will save lives, reduce child mortality (MDG 4) and ensure a productive society and economic growth.

On this occasion, Dr Margaret Chan will launch a new WHO initiative entitled T3: Test. Treat. Track, urging malaria-endemic countries, donors and the global health community to substantially scale-up investments in diagnostic testing, treatment, and surveillance for malaria. WHO has published technical guidance for all three pillars of T3: Test. Treat. Track. – releasing the final two documents of the package, Disease Surveillance for Malaria Control, and Disease Surveillance for Malaria Elimination, today.

WHO Country Representative to Namibia, Dr Magda Robalo says, “This is a momentous occasion for Namibia to host the WHO DG Dr Chan, given that it is one of the countries making sterling progress to reduce malaria drastically. In 2005, 80,000 cases were reported and this figure was brought down to 22,000 cases in 2010. Last year, in 2011, less than 16,000 malaria cases were registered. Consequently, Namibia is one of the countries identified to eliminate malaria.”

Other issues on the Namibia/WHO agenda

During the four day meetings visit, a diverse range of issues will be discussed, illustrating the breadth of cooperation between WHO and Namibia. In addition to malaria, other agenda items include, but are not limited to:

Progress towards the health MDGs related to HIV/AIDS, TB, maternal and child health,
Strengthen Health Systems through for instance health financing and human resources for health;
Improved partnerships for health: cross border and private sector collaboration, and
Communicable disease outbreaks in emergency humanitarian aid context.
Note to Editors: Namibia Malaria Facts

Namibia Malaria Progress: Namibia is exceeding targets set through the Abuja Declaration to cut malaria deaths by 50%. The Abuja Declaration - signed in 2000 - committed African countries to cut malaria-related deaths by 50% by 2010. Malaria deaths have fallen from 1,700 in 2001 to 170 deaths in 2008. In 2011, 36 deaths were registered– a reduction of 90%, far surpassing the Abuja targets.

About Elimination E-8
The Southern Africa Development Community adopted a plan known as Elimination eight comprising four “frontline” countries (Botswana, Namibia, South Africa and Swaziland) and four high -transmission countries (Angola, Mozambique, Zambia and Zimbabwe) to promote sustained control and capacity strengthening for transition to pre-elimination. Namibia is the Chair of the Elimination Eight group.

WHO Director General Dr. Margaret Chan to make first visit to Namibia from 23-26 April 2012

For more details, contact:

WHO - Namibia:
Communications & Advocacy Officer: Michelle Thulkanam
Email: thulkanamm [at] na.afro.who.int ;
Tel: +264-61-255-191 / Mob: +264-81-423-0556.

WHO HQ - Geneva:
WHO Communications Officer: Tarik Jasarevic
Email: jasarevict [at] who.int ;
Tel: +41-22-791-5099 / Mob: + 41-793-676-214.

WHO - Brazzaville:
Acting Program Manager, Communications, Advocacy & Media Unit; Collins Boakye-Agyemang
Email: Boakyec [at] afro.who.int ;
Tel:+ 472-413-9420