Uganda will benefit most from malaria strategy

A global health strategy aimed at reducing deaths from malaria to zero will help people in Uganda where only a quarter of households buy prevention measures.

The $3 billion (£1.72 billion) recently announced by world leaders and donors to tackle malaria will help improve access to bed nets, sprays and treatment for pregnant women, reported the Monitor in Kampala.

According to the global blueprint for eradicating malaria by 2015, care must be taken to assure countries would not cross contaminate.

This was more of a problem in Africa, which contained 30 of the 35 most malaria affected areas in the world, read the global action plan.

According to the World Health Organization, the number of Ugandan households with a mosquito net had doubled in four years to 2004 to 25 per cent.

However, 300 people die of malaria every day, and it is the leading killer of children under five years of age.

UN malaria special envoy Ray Chambers said: "Addressing this disease will significantly reduce the high rates of absenteeism in schools and at work, and help generate additional revenue for affected nations."

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