subject: Anti-Malaria Campaigns Need the Help of of All Goverments, Especially African Goverments [print this page] Anti-Malaria Campaigns Need the Help of of All Goverments, Especially African Goverments
Malaria is often referred to as the silent killer of our generation. The disease kills 5000 children every day, most of them Sub-Saharan Africa. The Western world does not see malaria as a human tragedy and African leaders do not consider it a priority; in fact, most do not even mention malaria in their presidential manifesto, even though the disease is endemic in their countries.
As at the time of writing this article, only Guinea, Kenya, Mauritius, Tanzania and Uganda and the Asian nation of Papua New Guinea have done away with taxes tariffs on products recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO) as crucial to effective malaria control. There is a saying in the Akan language that if you do not have anything to give to your in-law, the last thing you do is to rob him or her. Taxes and tariffs on anti-malaria drugs and preventive methods do the latter. With this article, I call upon the President of Ghana, His Excellency, John Atta Mills to remove all taxes and tariffs on anti-malaria-medicines, insecticides targeting mosquitoes, mosquito nets and other products that are solely or mainly imported into the country with the purpose to treat or prevent malaria.
Figures show that the monies African economies make from taxing anti-malarial products is too small to make any significant dent on the state of our economies. The only significant thing it accomplishes is slow down the drug and products distribution to the people who need it. Most anti-malaria products are produced outside of Africa. The least African governments can do is to put one more cent on the price of anti-malaria drugs and products as a result of taxes and tariffs. The extra burden this puts on families already cracking under stretched budgets is enormous.
In addition to taxes and tariffs, there are technical hurdles at our ports that result in unnecessary costs that absorb the funds organization and companies have committed into fighting malaria and also create inordinate delays in distribution. It is vital that African governments put in place well-defined systems to ensure public healthcare products, especially those targeting the most vulnerable in the society are easily and correctly identified at the ports of entry so that their release for distribution can be facilitated. . But I would not want to ask for too much at this time. Please, just do away with the taxes and tariffs on anti-malaria commodities.
African governments need to realize that the continent needs strategic leadership, vision and courage to address this challenge and I urge those who will listen to take the leadership role in this
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