As we all know malaria is one of the top killer diseases in Ethiopia and has a devastating impact on the country's most vulnerable children and women. During any given year malaria accounts for the most outpatient visits and admissions in clinics throughout the country and represents the largest single cause of morbidity.

Approximately 50 million Ethiopians are currently at risk of malaria. In addition, health care coverage and utilization is very low. Large parts of the country also are prone to drought-related food insecurity, which often results in increased vulnerability to malaria.

The global Roll Back Malaria Partnership, established in 1998, combines the efforts of WHO, UNICEF, The World Bank, UNDP and other partners in the fight against malaria. In Ethiopia, the importance of a strong Roll Back Malaria partnership is especially important due to the diversity of approaches required to control the disease effectively. As separate actors we will have limited success, but as a multi-faceted partnership we can achieve a great deal.

We all realize that malaria control is best achieved at the level of the community and the household. Effective tools are currently available. What remains is to scale-up these interventions. This year's start up of the Health Extension Package provides a unique opportunity to improve community involvement at the grassroots level and thereby implement a sustainable malaria prevention strategy throughout the country.

This Africa Malaria Day, UNICEF has called on pharmaceutical firms and donor countries around the world to get behind an initiative to introduce a life-saving new drug to hundreds of millions of people affected by the disease each year. UNICEF plans to use its global supply network to play a lead role in the world fight to reduce malaria deaths.

Our Executive Director Carol Bellamy has affirmed that these powerful new drugs can make the difference between life and death for the 300 million people afflicted by malaria every year. Private and public sectors can work together effectively to reshape the marketplace for malaria drugs and take a great leap toward rolling back malaria.

Chloroquine and Fansidar, the least expensive and most widely used anti-malarial drugs, have lost their effectiveness in many parts of Africa. Artemisinin-containing combination therapy (ACT) has been recommended by WHO and UNICEF in areas where there is growing resistance to chloroquine and Fansidar.

Because ACTs are comparatively expensive and currently available only in limited quantities, UNICEF and partners are working with global manufacturers to expand the production of high-quality ACTs so that every child and community that needs these drugs can access them readily. UNICEF is also calling on donor nations to help malaria-endemic countries pay for the new drugs. A full course treatment of Coartem, the only co-formulated ACT at this time, costs $2.40 per person -- five to ten times more than chloroquine and Fansidar.

UNICEF has recently convened a series of meetings with pharmaceutical companies, along with its Roll Back Malaria partners and major donors, to help foster the market needed to bring ACTs to the millions of people in desperate need of them. We cannot allow people to die just because they are poor and can't afford the best drugs available.

Globally, malaria is responsible for killing more than 1 million children a year - most under the of age five. Ninety percent of those deaths occur in Africa south of the Sahara. Malaria is the biggest killer of children in Africa. Of the tens of millions that do survive the disease, many suffer from physical and mental impairment.

In addition to pushing for increased drug availability, UNICEF is supporting malaria control programs in over 30 countries in Africa. Last year UNICEF procured almost 5 million mosquito nets, as well as insecticides to treat the nets, with a total value of about $17 million. By preventing mosquito bites and killing the malaria-carrying mosquito, insecticide-treated bed nets can dramatically reduce malaria infection and deaths.

UNICEF also supports community education programs to improve local knowledge about malaria prevention and the proper use of treated bed nets. These programs teach people how to recognize malaria symptoms and the importance of treating malaria promptly. Both measures are critical to combating malaria, which strikes frequently throughout the year and can be mistaken for other illnesses.

At least 600 children will die from malaria today during the course of this meeting. They will die from a disease, which is preventable and controllable. Working together -- the Government, UNICEF, WHO and other partners from both the private and public sector -- we can ensure that the number of malaria deaths will be significantly reduced in Ethiopia this year.

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