2001-2010 : Resolution Decade to Roll Back Malaria in Developing Countries, Particularly in Africa

A/RES/61/228View PDF

Who adopted this document and its mandates?

A Resolution of the General Assembly, under agenda item 48 2001-2010 : Decade to Roll Back Malaria in Developing Countries, Particularly in Africa, published in 2007.

What subjects does this mandate have?

34 subjects

What’s in this document?

27 operative paragraphs

Takes note of the note by the Secretary-General transmitting the report of the World Health Organization,⁸ and calls for support for the recommendations contained therein;

⁸A/61/218 and Corr.1.

Welcomes the increased funding for malaria interventions and for research and development of preventative and control tools from the international community, through targeted funding from multilateral and bilateral sources and from the private sector;

Calls upon the international community to continue to support the “Roll Back Malaria” partner organizations, including the World Health Organization, the World Bank and the United Nations Children’s Fund, as vital complementary sources of support for the efforts of malaria-endemic countries to combat the disease;

Appeals to the international community to work towards increased and sustained bilateral and multilateral assistance to combat malaria, including support for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, in order to assist States, in particular malaria-endemic countries, to implement sound national plans to control malaria in a sustained and equitable way that, inter alia, contributes to health system development;

Welcomes the contribution to the mobilization of resources for development by voluntary innovative financing initiatives taken by groups of Member States, and in this regard notes the International Drug Purchase Facility, UNITAID, the International Finance Facility for Immunization and the commitment to launch a pilot project in 2006 within the advance market commitment initiatives;

Urges malaria-endemic countries to work towards financial sustainability, to increase, to the extent possible, domestic resource allocation to malaria control and to create favourable conditions for working with the private sector in order to improve access to good-quality malaria services;

Calls upon Member States, in particular malaria-endemic countries, to establish and/or strengthen national policies and operational plans, aspiring to ensure that at least 80 per cent of those at risk of or suffering from malaria may benefit from major preventive and curative interventions by 2010, in accordance with the technical recommendations of the World Health Organization, so as to ensure a reduction in the burden of malaria by at least 50 per cent by 2010 and 75 per cent by 2015;

Urges Member States to assess and respond to the needs for integrated human resources at all levels of the health system, in order to achieve the targets of the Abuja Declaration on Roll Back Malaria in Africa⁹ and the internationally agreed development goals of the United Nations Millennium Declaration,2 to take actions, as appropriate, to effectively govern the recruitment, training and retention of skilled health personnel, and to give particular focus to the availability of skilled personnel at all levels to meet technical and operational needs as increased funding for malaria control programmes becomes available;

⁹A/55/240/Add.1, annex.

Calls upon the international community, inter alia, by helping to meet the financial needs of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria and through country-led initiatives with adequate international support, to intensify access to affordable, safe and effective antimalarial combination treatments, intermittent preventive treatment in pregnancies, insecticide-treated mosquito nets, including through the free distribution of such nets where appropriate, and insecticides for indoor residual spraying for malaria control, taking into account relevant international rules, standards and guidelines;

Requests relevant international organizations, in particular the World Health Organization and the United Nations Children’s Fund, to assist efforts of national Governments to establish universal protection of young children and pregnant women in malaria-endemic countries, particularly in Africa, with insecticide-treated nets as rapidly as possible, with due regard to ensuring sustainability through full community participation and implementation through the health system;

Encourages all African countries that have not yet done so to implement the recommendations of the Abuja Summit in 20003 to reduce or waive taxes and tariffs for nets and other products needed for malaria control, both to reduce the price of the products to consumers and to stimulate free trade in those products;

Expresses its concern about the increase in resistant strains of malaria in several regions of the world, and calls upon Member States, with support from the World Health Organization, to strengthen surveillance systems for drug and insecticide resistance;

Urges all Member States experiencing resistance to conventional monotherapies to replace them with combination therapies, as recommended by the World Health Organization, and to develop the necessary financial, legislative and regulatory mechanisms in order to introduce artemisinin combination therapies at affordable prices and to prohibit the marketing of oral artemisinin monotherapies, in a timely manner;

Recognizes the importance of the development of safe and cost-effective vaccines and new medicines to prevent and treat malaria and the need for further and accelerated research, including into safe, effective and high-quality traditional therapies, using rigorous standards, including by providing support to the Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases¹⁰ and through effective global partnerships such as the various malaria vaccine initiatives and the Medicines for Malaria Venture, where necessary stimulated by new incentives to secure their development;

¹⁰A joint programme of the United Nations Children’s Fund, the United Nations Development Programme, the World Bank and the World Health Organization.

Calls upon the international community, including through existing partnerships, to increase investment in and efforts towards the research and development of new, safe and affordable malaria-related medicines, products and technologies, such as vaccines, rapid diagnostic tests, insecticides and delivery modes, to prevent and treat malaria, especially for at-risk children and pregnant women, in order to enhance effectiveness and delay the onset of resistance;

Reaffirms the right to use, to the fullest extent, the provisions contained in the World Trade Organization Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS Agreement),¹¹ the Doha Declaration on the TRIPS Agreement and Public Health,¹² the decision of the World Trade Organization’s General Council of 30 August 2003¹³ and amendments to article 31 of the Agreement,¹⁴ which provide flexibilities for the protection of public health, and in particular to promote access to medicines for all, including the production, under compulsory licensing, of generic drugs in the prevention and treatment of malaria;

¹¹See Legal Instruments Embodying the Results of the Uruguay Round of Multilateral Trade Negotiations, done at Marrakesh on 15 April 1994 (GATT secretariat publication, Sales No. GATT/1994–7).

¹²World Trade Organization, document WT/MIN(01)/DEC/2. Available from http://docsonline.wto.org.

¹³See World Trade Organization, document WT/L/540 and Corr.1. Available from http://docsonline.wto.org.

¹⁴See World Trade Organization, document WT/L/641. Available from http://docsonline.wto.org.

Resolves to assist developing countries to employ the flexibilities outlined in the TRIPS Agreement in the fight against malaria and to strengthen their capacities for this purpose;

Calls upon the international community to support ways to expand access to and the affordability of key products, such as vector control measures, including indoor residual spraying, long-lasting insecticide-treated nets and artemisinin-based combination therapy for populations at risk of exposure to resistant strains of falciparum malaria in malaria-endemic countries, particularly in Africa, including the commitment of new funds, innovative mechanisms for the financing and national procurement of artemisinin-based combination therapy, and the scaling up of artemisinin production to meet the increased need;

Applauds the increased level of public-private partnerships for malaria control and prevention, including the financial and in kind contributions of private sector partners and companies operating in Africa, as well as increased engagement of non-governmental service providers;

Encourages the producers of long-lasting insecticide-treated nets to accelerate technology transfer to developing countries, and encourages malaria- endemic countries, including with the support of the International Finance Corporation, to explore and pursue possible opportunities to scale up production of long-lasting insecticide-treated nets;

Calls upon the international community and malaria-endemic countries, in accordance with existing guidelines and recommendations from the World Health Organization and the requirements of the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants¹⁵ to increase capacity for the safe, effective and judicious use of indoor residual spraying and other forms of vector control;

¹⁵United Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 2256, No. 40214.

Urges the international community to become fully knowledgeable about World Health Organization technical policies and strategies, including for indoor residual spraying, insecticide-treated nets and case management, intermittent preventive treatment for pregnant women and monitoring of in vivo resistance studies to artemisinin-based combination therapy treatment, so that projects support those policies and strategies;

Requests the World Health Organization, the United Nations Children’s Fund and donor agencies to provide support to those countries which choose to use DDT for indoor residual spraying so as to ensure that it is implemented in accordance with international rules, standards and guidelines, and to provide all possible support to malaria-endemic countries to manage the intervention effectively and prevent the contamination of agricultural products with DDT and other insecticides used for indoor residual spraying;

Calls upon malaria-endemic countries to encourage regional and intersectoral collaboration, both public and private, at all levels, especially in education, agriculture, economic development and the environment, to advance malaria control objectives;

Calls upon the international community to support increased interventions, in line with the recommendations of the World Health Organization and the Roll Back Malaria Partnership, in order to ensure their rapid, efficient and effective implementation, to strengthen health systems, to monitor and fight against the trade in counterfeit antimalarial medicines and prevent the distribution and use of them, and to support coordinated efforts, inter alia, by providing technical assistance to improve surveillance, monitoring and evaluation systems and their alignment with national plans and systems so as to better track and report changes in coverage, the need for scaling up recommended interventions and the subsequent reductions in the burden of malaria;

Urges Member States, the international community and all relevant actors, including the private sector, to promote the coordinated implementation and enhance the quality of malaria-related activities, including via the Roll Back Malaria Partnership, in accordance with national policies and operational plans that are consistent with the technical recommendations of the World Health Organization and recent efforts and initiatives, including the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness;

Requests the Secretary-General to report to the General Assembly at its sixty-second session on the implementation of the present resolution under the agenda item entitled “2001–2010: Decade to Roll Back Malaria in Developing Countries, Particularly in Africa”.

Who adopted this document and its mandates?

What subjects does this mandate have?

What’s in this document?

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