Eyes on Malaria launched

Accra, June 26, GNA - A research scientist has called on the media to support researchers to make Africa malaria free.

The Director of Ifakara Health Research and Development Centre in Tanzania, Dr. Hassan Mshinda, said information was critical in ensuring that policy makers as well as the public as whole were made aware of new discoveries and initiatives in the fight against the disease. He was speaking at the launch of the first edition of "Eyes On Malaria" a news magazine of the African Media and Malaria Research Network, (AMMREN) in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania. A statement released in Accra on Thursday and signed by AMMREN's Coordinator, Mr Richard Agbodo, said the 30-page magazine had stories written by African journalists from malaria endemic parts of Africa and members of AMMREN.

The stories focus on strides being made by malaria research scientists to find innovative ways of eradicating the disease, which kills one person, especially a child, every 30 seconds. Eyes On Malaria also has reports on malaria vaccine research and trials going on in the Malaria Clinical Trials Alliance (MCTA) sites in Ghana, Tanzania, Burkina Faso, Kenya, Mozambique, Malawi and Senegal. The statement said Dr. Seth Owusu-Agyei of the Kintampo Health Research Centre and also Board Chairman of AMMREN, said at the launch that "Eyes on Malaria" offered a great opportunity for scientists and the media to work together to translate findings into policies and programmes that will make the expected impact on the continent's population as far as the fight against malaria was concerned. Both Dr. Owusu-Agyei and Dr. Hassan Mshinda, whose research centres are among four malaria research institutions that are the recipients of the 2008 Prince of Asturias Award for Cooperation, agreed that the award was recognition of African scientists' efforts to discover new tools for malaria research and control. They both pledged to donate a quarter each of the prize money to support AMMREN activities. The other two recipients of the 2008 Prince of Asturias Award for Cooperation are the Malaria Research and Training Centre of Mali and Mozambique's Manhica Centre of Health Research. The Executive Secretary of AMMREN, Mrs. Charity Binka, said AMMREN since its formation in 2006 had worked with the conviction that African journalists could with one voice tell the malaria story. AMMREN is network of African journalists and scientists dedicated to fighting malaria, which is the number one killer of persons, particularly children under five years, in sub-Sahara Africa. The network is currently present in 10 African countries including Ghana, Gambia, Burkina Faso, Senegal, Nigeria and Gabon. The others are Kenya, Mozambique, Malawi and Tanzania.