Roll Back Malaria: Has It Been a Success?

"5 years on from the Abuja Summit, it is clear that not only has RBM failed in its aims, but it may also have caused harm. The 2010 target to halve malaria deaths now looks unreachable, but urgent action is necessary to meet even the Millennium Development Goal deadline of 2015 for halting malaria's spread. Accumulating evidence, such as the studies published in today's Lancet, confirms that the right strategies applied in the right ways can have a profound impact on incidence and mortality for malaria. But unless RBM produces some demonstrable results to assuage the sceptical international community, the partnership risks losing all credibility--and squandering its hard-won political support. For any sort of progress to be made--indeed, simply to fix the current chaos--the RBM partnership needs strong leadership and a clear signal from all its partners that malaria is a priority. Without this commitment, the history of RBM will become a calamitous tale of missed opportunities, squandered funds, and wasted political will."

"At a time when funding to fight malaria is still sorely lacking, a kaleidoscope of organizations, governments, businesses and celebrities in Africa, Europe, North America and Asia, united under the banner of the Roll Back Malaria Partnership, have made unprecedented gains over the past year."