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News and events
Meetings Back
Inter-country workshop on
scaling-up ITN implementation for the control of malaria and other
vector-borne diseases in EMR,
Abha, Saudi Arabia, 18-20 October 2003
Regional
Director's message
In
the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
- Address
by
- DR
HUSSEIN A. GEZAIRY
- REGIONAL
DIRECTOR
- WHO
EASTERN MEDITERRANEAN REGION
- to
the
INTER-COUNTRY
WORKSHOP ON SCALING-UP ITN IMPLEMENTATION FOR THE CONTROL OF MALARIA AND
OTHER VECTOR-BORNE DISEASES IN EMR
Abha,
Saudi Arabia, 18-20 October 2003
Distinguished
Guests, Dear Colleagues, Ladies and Gentlemen,
It
indeed gives me great pleasure to welcome you all to the Inter-country
Workshop on Scaling-up ITN Implementation for the Control of Malaria and
other Vector-borne Diseases in EMR in Abha, Saudi Arabia. The meeting is
being held to review the status of ITN implementation in EMR and finalize
national ITN strategic plans. Let me take this opportunity to thank the
Government of Saudi Arabia for hosting
this meeting and extend my sincere gratitude to His Excellency Dr Youssef
Bin Terad Al Saadoun, Deputy Minister for Economic and Cultural Affairs and
His Excellency Dr Hamad Bin Abdullah Almanee, Minister of Health for their
keen interest and excellent support received in facilitating this workshop.
I
hope that the participants will not only enjoy the hospitality of this great
nation and people but also be able to benefit from the experience of Saudi
Arabia in malaria control and prevention and more so on the use of ITNs for
the control of other vector-borne diseases. You will remember that during
the outbreak of the Rift Valley Fever in 2000, Saudi Arabia was the first
country in the Region that used ITNs on a large scale to respond to the
outbreak.
Ladies
and gentlemen,
As
you are aware, at the beginning of this year, Roll Back Malaria (RBM)/DCD
with experts and country representatives, developed a Regional Strategic
Framework on Integrated Vector Management in Khartoum, Sudan. This policy
document stresses the need for intersectoral collaboration and maximum
utilization of available tools for multiple impact of individual
interventions to achieve reduction in vector-borne disease risks.
Insecticide-treated bednets are a component of such interventions.
You
are meeting today in Abha to discuss and finalize national strategic plans
for the implementation of ITNs in key countries where malaria and other
vector-borne diseases are endemic. These
plans which you will be finalizing this week, form part of national plans on
IVM – a process I understand involved all national RBM partners in your
countries.
Ladies
and gentlemen,
As
reported elsewhere, some countries in the EMR have successfully controlled
malaria and other vector-borne diseases through vector control interventions
– mainly through insecticide residual spraying of houses. We therefore
encourage those countries that still sustain such measures and have skills
to implement them to continue to do so. These countries, however, may
consider the introduction of ITNs in certain specific situations or areas
where ITNs may prove more cost-effective than other interventions.
It
has become apparent, however, that not all the countries in our region can
sustain interventions such as insecticide residual spraying of houses.
In these countries the need to exploit other measures that can be
implemented using existing health infrastructures with the same
effectiveness or even more, are encouraged. Insecticide-treated bednets
could offer this potential. Insecticide-treated bednets can only achieve
this if they are made available and used by every member of the household,
in any targeted area i.e. when a high coverage rate is attained – to
reduce mortality and morbidity of vector-borne diseases. The biggest
challenge any country/programme implementing ITNs will face is attaining
this high coverage rate.
The
issue of attaining high coverage rate is further complicated when we have
countries, regions or groups of people who because of their vulnerability
– (due to either poverty, internal strife or their biological status) are
more affected by vector-borne diseases and their have access to ITNs is also
a problem. Such people would ideally benefit from highly subsidized nets.
On the other hand, we also have people in the community who can
afford nets at market/cost price. The
issue then is how we devise ways of identifying such groups and target them
for appropriate distribution mechanisms. The other challenge is maintaining
high net re-treatment rates, and the availability of WHOPES-approved Long
Lasting Insecticidal nets (LLINs) could be the answer to the problem of low
re-treatment rates in the long-term.
Dear
colleagues,
The
Regional Office jointly with WHO/HQ and other RBM partners recently
developed a Global Framework to scale up ITNs in disease endemic countries.
This document – copies of which you have, has provided some useful
guidelines which countries can use to develop their national strategic
plans. The global framework encourages strengthening of partnerships at
country level involving both the public/private sectors and Non-Governmental
Organizations (NGOs). Each of these partners have different roles to play
– public sector providing an enabling environment (removal of taxes and
tariffs) and with NGOs addressing issues of equity. Private sector on the
other hand is expected to address issues of social marketing and of selling
of ITNs. Demand creation and promotion of ITNs is the responsibility of
every partner.
It
is also expected that national strategic plans will also contain innovative
ways of attaining high coverage rates of both nets and re-treatments and the
Regional office will do what it can to support such initiatives. In this
regard, I am making reference to community-based programmes as well as
community initiatives such as Basic Development Needs (BDN) – untapped
community resources. I am also considering existing health
infrastructures/networks and outreach activities such as EPI as additional
distribution channels.
I
am pleased with the spectrum of participants to this meeting – ranging
from representatives from the MOH (malaria and vector control programme
managers), local NGO’s, private sector, international experts in their own
right and donors. This is indeed a true reflection of what role each one of
you can play as we scale-up ITNs in countries of EMR.
Ladies
and Gentlemen,
National
strategic plans for scaling up implementation of ITNs will not only address
distribution and financing
issues. Operational research, monitoring and evaluation on acceptance,
market trends – including monitoring for insecticide resistance will be
crucial. When these plans are finalized, they will provide the vision to
scale up ITNs in the countries and also help in resource mobilization as
huge resources will be needed. I assure member states represented here that
we will support all efforts to scale up ITNs in countries of EMR.
I
wish you every success and a pleasant stay in this beautiful city of Abha.
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