VOA常速英语:African Leaders to Launch Major Anti-Malaria Campaign

Last year, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon joined the African Union in setting the goal of ensuring universal access to malaria control methods in endemic countries by the end of next year.

Chambers says that will only happen with leadership from the top. "We have heard from a number of health ministers that unless the president or prime minister of their country makes it known to the people of the country and the people of the various elements of government that reaching universal coverage by the end of next year is a top or the top priority for that country, it is not likely to get done," he said.

In support of U.N. and AU goals, the African Leaders Malaria Alliance seeks to eliminate all preventable malaria deaths in Africa by 2015, by sharing effective control practices and raising awareness among at-risk populations.

Nearly 20 percent of women who die during childbirth in Africa die from malaria. It accounts for a quarter of all deaths of children under the age of five.

Treating malaria accounts for as much as 40 percent of Africa's health-care spending. In some countries, it makes up nearly 60 percent of outpatient treatment.

The U.N.'s Ray Chambers says eliminating those costs by ensuring universal access to methods to control malaria will yield huge savings for African governments and boost their economies. "In some African countries, on any given day, one out of four members of the workforce is absent due to malaria. And those who are working with the illness are less than fully productive," he said.

Insecticide-treated mosquito nets have been one of the most efficient, cost-effective means of preventing malaria. The production of these nets has more than tripled during the last five years, and they have been distributed to more than 40 percent of at-risk populations. To complete that coverage, more than 240 million more nets have been purchased for delivery by next December.

After those still at-risk are protected, Chambers says African governments and the international community must remain vigilant. "With malaria, we just cannot declare victory. In order to keep it under control, the bed nets need to be replaced. The mosquito and the parasite will inevitably develop resistance to the insecticide and to the medicine du jour," he said.

Global funding for malaria has increased dramatically during the last few years, with more than $3 billion pledged at last year's United Nations malaria summit - chiefly from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the U.S. President's Malaria Initiative, the World Bank and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.