"Protocol Objectives and Regional Cooperation"
Johannesburg, 14 October 1999
Hon. Ministers
Distinguished Guests
Ladies and Gentlemen
My colleagues have spoken of the severe threat that malaria poses to human life, either directly or through its negative impacts on economic growth and development. We have also seen that the Anopheles mosquito, the vector that carries the disease, knows know respect for international borders.
Malaria cannot be viewed as a country specific problem and must of necessity be viewed as a regional one. Malaria is a leading public health problem in southern Africa, it is a preventable and curable disease and we believe effective and sustainable control is possible.
The protocol we have come to sign today is a tangible sign of the growing spirit of regional co-operation in Africa. It puts in place a Regional Malaria Control Commission (RMCC) that includes a group of African scientists, public health professionals and malaria control programme managers from the three countries - all with exceptional experience in communicable disease control in Africa. This body of collective expertise base extends from individuals who have started malaria-control programmes in 3 countries to extensive experience in research, intervention and health management
The protocol does the following, among other things. It notes that our three government's aim to significantly reduce the malaria morbidity and mortality in the region. It aims to reduce the incidence of Plasmodium falciparum in Maputo province - perhaps the hardest hit area of the Lubombo SDI - from 400 per 1000 to less than 20 per 1000 within five years after initiation of the programme. It aims to reduce the incidence of such infections in the South African and Swaziland parts of the region from 250 per 1000 to 5 per 1000 within five years. This we believe will have a positive socio economic impact.
It also lays the basis for a transnational programme to monitor and evaluate our interventions as well as a training programme that will give members of rural villages the skill and equipment to spray houses with an environmentally friendly pesticide.
The project area forms part of the broader Lubombo SDI's malaria-controlled areas in Mpumalanga, KwaZulu-Natal Provinces and Swaziland. It also includes an extension and consolidation of the existing malaria control area around Maputo city. The integration of these previously isolated malaria control areas by the SDI is important. Until now, some newly initiated control programmes were spatially isolated from other control programmes and that did not have the necessary expertise to back them up.
Our commitment to regional collaboration comes from the highest office in all three countries. A general protocol on the Lubombo SDI was signed by the heads of state of Swaziland, Mozambique and South Africa on 5th of July 1999 at the World Economic Summit in Durban. This followed the symbolic launch of the SDI by His Majesty King Mswati III, President Mandela and President Joaquim Chissano in May 1998. The general Lubombo protocol establishes a trilateral ministerial committee to implement the SDI and establishes a task team from with representatives from each of the countries to advise and support the ministers.
The general protocol commits the three governments to consult with each other with the aim of harmonising policies and regulations with regard to land and water management. It also notes the urgent need t draft and implement further protocols on transnational matters such as border controls, disease control, biodiversity protection and conservation.
The malaria protocol we are signing here today is an indication that we are moving forward to give substance to the spirit of the agreements that were signed in Durban.
We have referred to a number of areas of action under the programme. Others involve the inclusion of malariaologists in the planning teams of all water resource development projects and the publication of tourist information booklets which contain definitive malaria risk maps and prophylaxis guidelines.
The project will lay the foundation for a unified approach in the three countries concerned to the control of malaria. Such a regional policy - especially one that involves the administration of treatment to victims and potential victims of the disease - will help to curb drug resistance, the single greatest problem facing malaria control in Africa.
In line with the World Health Organization strategy of "Rolling Back Malaria", the SDI malaria programme will not only benefit the three countries but its success will serve as an example for other regions in Africa and the world.
I would like to end by noting an important aspect of our programme. The corporate sector has come forward with significant funding to make these actions possible. This demonstrates the commitment of the private sector - not only to the health and welfare of their workers but also to the need for promoting economic growth and development in general. This is a vitally important factor and points to the partnership between government and business, between the public and the private, upon which the entire Lubombo initiative is based. Such partnership is strongly encouraged in all other sectors.
I would like to end by noting an important aspect of our programme. Business has come forward with significant funding to make these actions possible. This demonstrates the commitment of the private sector - not only to the health and welfare of their workers but also to the need for promoting economic growth and development in general. This is a vitally important factor and points to the partnership between the government and business, between the public and the private, upon which the entire Lubombo initiative is based.