APA - Lagos (Nigeria) The president of the ECOWAS Commission, James Gbeho, on Friday in Abuja inaugurated the task force on "Malaria Elimination’’ in the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) region by 2015.
James Gbeho said at the inauguration that the task force would fast-track the implementation of the approved roadmaps towards the elimination of the malaria scourge in the region by 2015.
He said that the challenge of the eliminating malaria should be taken seriously and that ECOWAS states should ensure that lives were no longer lost to the sickness
Gbeho said that malaria should be one of the world’s development agenda, while Africa should support the local production of drugs and products that could fight the malaria scourge until it was eventually eradicated.
“Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) should support the local production of drugs and products to fight malaria as well as use all available resources to prevent and reduce malaria cases and deaths, achieve universal coverage, eliminate malaria and, in the long-run, eradicate it,” he said..
Gbeho said that the organisation had collaborated with the government of Cuba and Venezuela to provide technical assistance to ECOWAS and build factories for the production of anti-malaria products.
He added that Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana and Nigeria had been identified as beneficiaries for the first phase of the programme.
The members of the task force include representatives of the West African Health Organization (WAHO), the ECOWAS Bank for Investment and Development (EBID), the Commission’s Directorates of Humanitarian and Social Affairs, Communication and Environment, the private sector and the civil society.
