June 16, 2011
Zanzibar has reached a crossroads in its efforts to combat malaria, but its successes hinge on continuity of funding for malaria interventions, according to a new article in Science by CDDEP senior fellow David L. Smith and co-authors.
The history of malaria control efforts in Zanzibar draws parallels to the Greek myth of Sisyphus, who was cursed to eternally roll aboulder up a mountain, only to watch it roll back down each time. In Zanzibar, malaria control efforts have met a similar fate each attempt to eliminate the parasitic disease has achieved remarkable short-term success but has been hampered in the long-term by gaps in funding. Malaria has been nearly eliminated twice in the 1960s and again in the 1980s but each time the disease has surged back once program funding has declined.
Now, through coordinated international and local efforts to increase education and utilize interventions including rapid diagnostic tests, bed nets, and home spraying, malaria control efforts in Zanzibar are achieving remarkable success. But with malaria becoming a less visible threat, Zanzibar is facing a funding crossroads.
According to Smith and co-authors, the lessons of history are clear without maintaining programs that minimize the burden today, malaria would return again to Zanzibar. The authors argue that sustained interventions could prevent approximately 660,000 cases and 3,300 malaria-attributable deaths each year.
Zanzibar is also a case study for the global malaria effort. The real questions for Zanzibar is how they are going to manage to sustain funding for as long as malaria is a risk, says Smith. Zanzibar has made such great progress that for them to lose traction and lose malaria control now would be a major setback for all of Africa because this is one of the places that has done so well. We need to show that it is possible to do something and come up with a coherent plan with continuity of funding.
Listen to a podcast where David L. Smith discusses the history and future of malaria efforts in Zanzibar.
Solving the Sisyphean Problem of Malaria in Zanzibar is available for download at Science (subscription required).
Image credit: Flickr: Susan Renee
