“We pledge to kill malaria”

The above is a quote from Margaret Chan, Director-General WHO from a remarkable malaria summit at the UN in New York City yesterday.

In a nutshell, $3.4bn has been committed to implement a global malaria action plan that will reduce malaria deaths in Africa to “near zero” by 2015. That’s 4.2 million lives saved.

It was hard not to feel moved by what I heard. Here’s a flavor of the event through a series of quotes.

Bono: “I am not here as a rockstar, I’m here as a fan … of the physicians and scientists”

Ray Chambers (UN Special Envoy for Malaria): “This plan is not a dream, it is built on experience in the field”

Paul Kagame, President of Rwanda: “With committed effort there is no doubt you can get results. My country has proved that”

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Minister of Health of Ethiopia: “By harnessing partnerships, local and global, we can do a lot more”

Jakaya Kikwete, President of Tanzania: “It is our third time to clear malaria from Zanzibar, this time we want to ensure that it is sustained”

Margaret Chan, Director-General WHO: “[We have been hindered by] resistance, fragmentation of activities and weak institutional capacity. Why now? It’s do-able”

Robert Zoellick, President of the World Bank “The devil is in the detail of actually deploying, but it’s a problem that we know how to deal with”

Gordon Brown, UK Prime Minister: “We will support research, we will support reducing the cost of drugs and treatment, and we’ll build capacity to deliver a healthcare system on the ground”

Bill Gates: “Eradication is a top challenge, this plan is the best path to take us in that direction…In the long run the most dramatic thing is a vaccine”

Jeffrey Sachs “The gap between knowledge and action is too long. The expert knowledge is truly expert…Please listen to the scientific community. And fund them properly”

Bono: “What’s the next disease?”

Check out the webcast of the event here: www.kaisernetwork.org/healthcast/milldev/25sep08

And for the Action Plan: http://rbm.who.int/gmap/

Richard Gallagher, Editor The Scientist