Global Fund returns to Myanmar to fight malaria, WHO says

Nov 10, 2010, 10:57 GMT

Bangkok - The Global Fund has agreed to grant 33 million dollars to fight malaria in Myanmar, after pulling out of the country in 2006 due to pressure from the US, United Nations officials confirmed Wednesday.

'The grant was signed in the past few days between the Global Fund Secretariat and the principal recipient (the UN Development Program),' said Leonard Ortega, a member of the World Health Organization (WHO) team in Myanmar.

The Global Fund is an international institution that invests in fighting HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria around the world. It had pulled out of Myanmar under pressure from the administration of former US president George Bush.

That administration argued that it was concerned about a lack of access to affected areas in the country that has been under military dictatorships since 1962.

'One donor made a strong statement to the principal recipient, the UNDP, that if you implement the Global Fund in Myanmar we will cull our contributions to your organization,' Ortega recalled.

'Now because of the change in the US administration, the Global Fund has said yes (to Myanmar),' he said.

The grant will go toward eradicating malaria in Myanmar, where an estimated 9,000 people died of the mosquito-borne virus last year.

The Karen State, however, will be excluded from the programme to avoid further accusations of lack-of-access problems.

The Karen State has been a war zone for the past 62 years. The Karen ethnic minority is fighting for autonomy in their zone. The most recent fighting was reported Monday, sending 12,000 refugees into Thailand.

Myanmar's malaria pandemic poses a health crisis not only for the country itself but for the region as a whole.

The WHO is especially concerned about the rise in drug-resistant strains of malaria particularly prevalent along the border areas, where it is impossible to control health programmes because people are constantly crossing the border.

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