By Dan Parkinson, reporting from Abidjan, Cote D’Ivoire.
A-two day regional sensitization meeting by the ECOWAS Commission for the extensive use of biolarvicide for the eradication of malaria in Africa, aiming at
applying the vector control approach has ended in Abidjan, Cote D’Ivoire.
Representing the President of the Commission at the conference, the Commissioner for Micro-Economic Policy, Dr. Ibrahim Bocar Ba emphasized the need for the constant appliance of biolarvicide which he described as a substance that destroys the larvae of the mosquito .He encouraged all ECOWAS member states to mount an intensive sensitization campaign for the application of biolavvicide come ECOWAS Day-May 28 this year, in recognition of ECOWAS vision to eliminate malaria in 2020.
The World Health Organization’s (WHO) has concluded that vector control is the only intervention capable of militating against malaria transmission, reinforcing the ECOWAS resolve at strengthening the strategy to complement other interventions for a successful outcome.
He stressed that with massive sensitization among ECOWAS Member states, community mobilization and participation and the involvement of the military in the campaign for the use of biolarvide, the war declared against malaria would be won.
Dr.Bocar Ba emphasized the objective of putting resources together and join forces to defeat malaria, "a war we can, and must win for the benefit of our communities”, he reassured, financial, health and environment experts, armed forces of Member States, parliamentarians, religious and community leaders, development partners and other stakeholders of ECOWAS and Member States.
The Presidential representative of the ECOWAS Commission further lauded Cuba and Venezuela, which, under the Tripartite Agreement are providing both financial and technical support for the construction of three biolarvicide factories in Nigeria, Ghana and Cote D’Ivoire. These factories will provide adequate larvicide products to combat mosquito larvae but harmless to human health and the environment.
Commissioner Ba reaffirmed the determination and commitment of ECOWAS and its Member States to make the region Malaria-free in line with the directive by regional leaders on the campaign, which received a major boost at the just-concluded Ministerial Mediation and Security Council Meeting in Yamoussoukro, which endorsed the strong participation of national armed forces in combating Malaria.
Madam Aminata Ouattara-Coulibaly, the representive of Cote d’Ivoire’s Minister for African Integration, highlighted the importance of the sensitization meeting, coming on the heels of the just-concluded 44th Ordinary Summit of the Authority of ECOWAS Heads of State and Government which approved the
report of the Mediation and Security Council which among other things recommended the involvement of the military in the Malaria elimination campaign.
She cataloged the dreadful and the socio-economic effect s caused by malaria in not just to the region but the entire Africa, noting that malaria has killed and continues to kill more people than all armed conflicts combined in Africa with children under five years and pregnant women mostly at risk.
She said it is therefore incumbent upon all states to wage and win the war against malaria. She reaffirmed the commitment of the Ivoirian government and called on all member states to succeed in this campaign.
Earlier in her welcome address Dr. Mariane Ngoulla, the ECOWAS Health Advisor and focal person for the campaign explained that the sensitization exercise is designed to engender mobilization of efforts and resources, and also enlist strong community participation for a successful region-wide Malaria eradication drive.
Presentations were delivered on the Socio-economic Impact of Malaria; Mechanism of procuring biolarvicides and the Application; Multi-sectoral expertise of Labiofam, Larval Source Management as part of malaria vector control in Africa, Mobilization of Communities for behavior change, and a case
study of Nigeria’s Rivers State in the use of biolarvicides.
In attendance were representatives of Labiofam, the biolarvicide manufacturing Cuban firm, representatives of ECOWAS institutions, including the West African Health Organization (WAHO), civil society as well as social mobilization and communications experts. A six–man delegation from Sierra Leone was drawn from the Ministries of Finance and Economic Development, the ministry of Health and Sanitation, Defense and the Ministry of Information and Communications.
Photo: Sierra Leone’s representatives at the meeting.
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