MEDIA ADVISORY NOTICE
29th March 2000
URGENT – ACCREDITATION DETAILS NEEDED
MEDIA ADVISORY NOTICE
29th March 2000
HEADS OF STATE SUMMIT CONFERENCE ON MALARIA
ABUJA NIGERIA EASTER 2000
World leaders will be attending the first major Summit on accelerating action against malaria in Africa on April 25 in Abuja, Nigeria.
More that 50 African Heads of State, G8 Heads of State, the Heads of 10 international development agencies, and more that 12 Development and Health Ministers have been invited to the Summit. Leaders whose countries are most seriously affected have already accepted.
Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo is hosting the Summit which is being co-organised by the World Health Organisation (WHO). WHO co-ordinates the global partnership Roll Back Malaria initiative that aims to halve the numbers of malaria deaths by the year 2010.
Malaria causes more than one million deaths each year. The majority who die are African children and deaths linked to malaria in Africa overall are increasing.
April 18th Photo/Filming Opportunity
A week before the Summit meeting the World’s largest bednet will be unveiled with hundreds of African schoolchildren. The Guinness Book of Records will be present to record the event.
The event will draw attention to the urgent need to provide more insecticide treated bednets in Africa. Insecticide treated nets are one of the most effective tools for the prevention and control of malaria.
There will also be opportunities to meet with politicians, health workers and families with malaria as they talk about their experiences in fighting the disease.
April 25th Summit Meeting
Heads of State will issue a declaration on tackling malaria in Africa and new statistics on the crippling effect malaria has on economic development in African countries will also be launched.
A live video link will relay images and messages from African people living with malaria to conference delegates. A press conference is scheduled for 5.30pm and journalists are invited to attend the whole meeting.
Further news events are planned for the period 18th–25th in Nigeria to highlight the problems of malaria in Africa. For more information please see the Roll Back Malaria website. www.who.int/rbm
URGENT - PLEASE NOTE
Journalists or news crews wishing to attend the photocall and/or Summit meeting need to alert RBM Media Officer Andy Seale at WHO before April 5th to ensure Nigerian Government Accreditation and visa processing.
<P>NotesRenewed backing for malaria control by WHO began with the election of Dr. Gro Harlem Brundtland, former Prime Minister of Norway, as Director General of WHO in 1998. She committed the organisation to intensified support of malaria control - especially in Africa, and through her leadership the Roll Back Malaria (RBM) initiative was launched by WHO, UNICEF, the World Bank and UNDP on October 28, 1998. Partnerships between Governments, development agencies and private groups are now supporting RBM action in more than 20 countries.
For more information:
WHO Geneva, Andy Seale, 00 41 22 791 3670 or sealea@who.ch;
WHO Geneva, Kraig Klaudt, 0041 22 791 4627 or klaudtk@who.ch;
WHO Nigeria, Austine Oghide, 00 234 1 545 3662/3 or 00 234 9 314 8776/7
Summit Secretary Dr Abebe on 00 234 9 523 8190
In the United Kingdom Janice Muir at +44 171 407 3313
In the United States Jim Palmer at +1 202 262 9823
See the Press Pack folder on the Roll Back Malaria Website www.who.int/rbm