Honourable Minister Muhammad Ali Pate,
Regional Director Dr Matshidiso Moeti,
Distinguished guests, dear colleagues and friends,
I thank Minister Muhammad Pate and the Government of Nigeria for convening this important gathering.
This is a powerful demonstration of your commitment to the fight against malaria, and to improving the health of the people of Nigeria.
Nigeria has had a long battle with malaria, and while you have made good progress, it remains a major burden of disease, accounting for more than half of hospital visits.
Nigeria has the world’s largest burden of malaria, with more than a quarter of the world's cases, and one third of global deaths, most of them children and pregnant women.
It is time to turn the tide on this ancient killer.
Just a few weeks ago, ministers from high burden countries in Africa met in Cameroon and signed the Yaoundé Declaration, committing to reduce deaths from malaria.
Now, just two months later, Nigeria is first out of the blocks, ready to translate the political commitment of the Yaoundé Declaration into action and resources – and I’m so proud to see this accelerated action, based on the declaration.
We live at an exciting time, with powerful new tools, including the world’s first malaria vaccine and more effective bed nets.
In tandem with existing tools, and with strong community engagement on vector control, we have a real opportunity to realise the vision of the Yaoundé Declaration.
But acquiring and using these new tools requires significant and sustained resources.
And we recognise that countries are operating with constrained resources and emerging threats, including resistance to medicines and insecticides, and the evolving impact of climate change.
So we need a data-driven approach to identify the most effective and most equitable use of resources to accelerate progress in Nigeria, and other high-burden countries.
That means better financing, and better partnerships.
I would like to acknowledge the success of the Minister in already securing additional domestic funding for health in Nigeria. Thank you, Muhammad.
We also recognize that Nigeria will also need the strong support of partners with scaled and predictable funding to achieve its ambitions.
We assure you of WHO’s steadfast support for a sector-wide approach, and we are committed to working with partners to ensure financial assistance is aligned with national policies and priorities – and the result will be significant, since country ownership is very, very strong.
Significant, sustained investments in malaria control will not only save lives from this one disease, they will make a huge dent in child and maternal mortality in Nigeria, and contribute to long-term social and economic development.
Once again, my thanks to you my brother, Minister Muhammad Pate, for your leadership. As you said in Yaoundé, together we can change this story for families and communities across Africa.
You are paving the way for other high-burden countries, and showing what is possible.
If a country as large and complex as Nigeria, with a malaria burden as large as yours, can win the fight against malaria, then every country can.
Together, we can not only dream of a malaria-free world, we can make it happen.
I thank you.