Last month, on World Malaria Day, the UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for Malaria, Ray Chambers, spoke enthusiastically about the continuing global campaign to combat the disease. “Our goal is to reach close to zero deaths from malaria by 2015,” said Mr. Chambers, Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for Malaria. “There is much work to be done – many hurdles – but we are optimistic that we can achieve that goal,” he told reporters at UN headquarters in New York. Malaria, which is caused by a parasite transmitted to humans through the bites of infected mosquitoes, kills nearly 800,000 people around the world every year with most of the deaths occurring in Africa. Chambers said the Tanzanian island of Zanzibar reported no deaths from malaria when he visited there last year.

Indeed, Tanzania and Zanzibar have done remarkably well in the battle against malaria as a result of a pioneering initiative undertaken by Japan’s Sumitomo Chemical Company, which many in the international development community are holding up as an ideal example of how a company in a developed country can collaborate with another in a developing country.

What Sumitomo did in Tanzania was to begin in 2003 a pilot Olyset Net manufacturing project with A to Z Textile Mills based In Arusha. In 2005 the project was taken further with the formation of a 50-50 joint venture (JV) between the two companies to produce the World Health Organisation recommended malaria bed nets, The joint venture is backed by the Acumen Fund, a US-based non-profit organisation that helps businesses to become financially sustainable and to deliver affordable critical goods and services that improve the lives of the poor. Other backers are the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and Population Services International.

In order to decrease these figures, the global humanitarian service organisation, the Rotary Foundation, will provide grants to Rotary clubs in the region so that they can form volunteer teams to support the professional development of nursing faculties at Aga Khan University’s East Africa campuses in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda. The Aga Khan University, a private research institution promoting humanitarian welfare and development, will work together with the teams and the local Rotary clubs to carry out community service projects. This will link the classroom lessons to existing clinics and health care programs in order to provide and more effective learning progress.

Grants will also be offered to students admitted to Aga Khan University’s Advanced Nursing Studies program. The students will then be given the opportunity to be guided though their studies by the local Rotary associations. It was claimed by the University that through its education programs, graduates will be able to provide better quality health care services in their communities as well as lead policy development at the national level. This can result in more qualified healthcare professionals who are helping to build accessible, responsive and sustainable healthcare systems in East Africa. The head of Aga Khan University, Firoz Rasul, stated: ‘This partnership will enable a greater number of qualified students from poor communities to benefit from our programs.’

He continued: ‘Partnerships such as this one build much needed capacity in the developing world, but more importantly, they enable innovation and the creation of knowledge to address local health problems.’ The United Nations Milliennium Goals call for a 75 per cent reduction in maternal deaths and a reduction of two thirds in the death rate of children under the age of five years old. The Chair of Rotary Foundation, Carl-Wilhelm Stenhammar stated that the partnership between the two organisations ‘is an important step toward meeting the United Nations Millennium Development Goals for maternal and child health.’ The program has been given a warm welcome in the Sub Saharan nations and was described as ‘an immense contribution to the health and well-being of families throughout our region,’ by Ugandan Samuel F. Owori, a member of the Rotary International Board of Directors.

He added: ‘Our Rotary clubs in East Africa are eager to partner with thetop-notch professionals at Aga Khan University to help ensure that mothers and their infants receive the best health care possible.’ Aga Khan University operates in eight countries across East Africa, the Middle East, South and Central Asia and Europe. The University’s curricula in nursing, medicine and educational development reflect the unique needs of the communities and countries where they are based. It provides students and graduates with knowledge which they can immediately apply where it will have the most impact.

There were several reasons why the many medicines sampled failed the testing. They included; insufficient active pharmaceutical ingredient (API), an excess level of degradation substances and poor dissolution. Across the countries surveyed the quality in anti-malarial drugs varied greatly. Nigeria had the highest rate of drugs that failed the testing, at 64%. Cameroon and Ghana fared much better with 37% and 39% of the drugs failing the testing. Yet eastern Africa told a different story. In both Kenya and Tanzania the quality of medicine appeared ‘reasonably well assured’ and in Ethiopia ‘no samples failed quality testing.’

Results also showed that ‘failure rates were higher for countries where many products from many different manufacturers are sold.’ They were also higher amongst domestically manufactured products compared to imported ones. Imported products from well established global manufacturers had significantly lower failure rates. Added to this, results for samples from medicines that had been WHO pre-qualified had less than 4% failure rate. And all of this was just minor deviation.

With regard to the results in east Africa, WHO praised recent efforts made by Tanzania and Kenya, in collaboration with the world health body, to improve their medicine regulatory process. Due to this they have concluded that the results show ‘better regulation means better medicines.’

A second report by the organisation agrees with this conclusion. In that report medicine regulation was assessed in 26 sub-Saharan African countries. It showed that despite being committed to regulating medicines effectively, complex frameworks as well as unclear delineation of the regulatory process are prohibiting regulatory efforts. A severe lack of sustainable funding and qualified staff further exacerbate these problems. Other conclusions drawn by the organisation were that post-marketing surveillance amongst drugs manufacturers also need to be increased.

In order to target these problems, WHO has subsequently agreed strategies to strengthen medicine regulation in the participating countries. This will include supervising manufacturers and improving their adherence to Good Manufacturing Practices. The organisation also wishes to provide technical assistance to aid these countries improve market surveillance, enhance the quality assurance systems of their pharmaceutical sectors and regularly and systematically assess their regulatory systems.

The exhibition hosted by Thomas Reuters in Canary Wharf displayed images capturing the spirit of Tanzania as seen through the eyes of CPA volunteers. The photographs on display were compiled from hundreds taken over the last five years taken by aspiring amateurs and professionals alike. All of whom have share a common passion for helping others and for Tanzania. In the end 26 photos from 8 different photographers, all of whom had volunteered with CPA in education projects, were chosen for the auction.

Their photos generally focused on the people of Tanzania, with Maasai communities and Choba villagers photographed against the backdrop of Tanzania’s breathtaking scenery. An embrace of traditional culture as well as youth were common themes throughout these photos. Many saw traditional Maasai clothing and tribal dances or simply cheerful children, excited by the presence of a camera, in their schools and villages.

It contrasted well with the six images on wildlife that were also featured at the exhibit and auction by award winning photographer Alwyn R Coates. They formed part of a special preview collection from his upcoming first solo exhibition and were taken during his time in neighbouring Kenya. Alywn was there to capture images of the animals there struggle with the country’s worst ever draught and hopes his haunting images will raise awareness of the problem as part of his work with the Born Free Foundation. He may be more widely known for photographing celebrities, but it is clear that this is something much closer to his heart. Prints of one of his images of a lion were on sale along with a limited edition selection of images signed by Virginia McKenna. The actress come founder of the Born Free Foundation is most famous for her role in the film of the same name alongside her late husband Bill Travers.

50% of profits from the sale of Alwyn Coates’s prints and everything made from the auction will support the vital work of Community Projects Africa. In total the event raised £4000 for the charity on the night. The money is to be spent on various projects run by CPA such as the vocational training centre in Arusha which runs tailoring courses and English language programmes as well as providing backup medical care to people affected by or caring for someone with HIV/AIDS.

There were several reasons why the many medicines sampled failed the testing. They included; insufficient active pharmaceutical ingredient (API), an excess level of degradation substances and poor dissolution. Across the countries surveyed the quality in anti-malarial drugs varied greatly. Nigeria had the highest rate of drugs that failed the testing, at 64%. Cameroon and Ghana fared much better with 37% and 39% of the drugs failing the testing. Yet eastern Africa told a different story. In both Kenya and Tanzania the quality of medicine appeared ‘reasonably well assured’ and in Ethiopia ‘no samples failed quality testing.’

Results also showed that ‘failure rates were higher for countries where many products from many different manufacturers are sold.’ They were also higher amongst domestically manufactured products compared to imported ones. Imported products from well established global manufacturers had significantly lower failure rates. Added to this, results for samples from medicines that had been WHO pre-qualified had less than 4% failure rate. And all of this was just minor deviation.

With regard to the results in east Africa the WHO praised recent efforts have been made by Tanzania and Kenya, along with the WHO, to improve their medicine regulatory process. Due to this they have concluded that the results show ‘better regulation means better medicines.’

A second report by the organisation agrees with this conclusion. In that report medicine regulation was assessed in 26 sub-Saharan African countries. It showed that despite being committed to regulating medicines effectively, complex frameworks as well as unclear delineation of the regulatory process are prohibiting regulatory efforts. A severe lack of sustainable funding and qualified staff further exacerbate these problems. Other conclusions drawn by the organisation were that post-marketing surveillance amongst drugs manufacturers also need to be increased.

In order to target these problems the WHO has subsequently agreed strategies to strengthen medicine regulation in the participating countries. This will include supervising manufacturers and improving their adherence to Good Manufacturing Practices. The organisation also wishes to provide technical assistance to aid these countries improve market surveillance, enhance the quality assurance systems of their pharmaceutical sectors and regularly and systematically assess their regulatory systems.