ECOWAS and the Rivers Government have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for the construction of a factory to produce anti-mosquito larvae, bio-larvicides.
The MOU is under the ECOWAS Malaria Elimination Campaign, a statement issued by the commission on Thursday said.
Bio-larvicides are safe substances sprayed to destroy mosquitoes in the larvae stage of their development.
The signing of the MoU is a follow up to the Tripartite Accord, which ECOWAS signed in 2009 with Cuba and Venezuela, for the setting up of three bio-larvicide factories in three ECOWAS member-states.
The member states are Cote d’Ivoire, Nigeria and Ghana.
Under the agreement, Venezuela and Cuba would provide the financial and technical support and the technology transfer for the establishment of the bio-larvicide factories to make the product available for use.
During the signing ceremony, the President of the ECOWAS Commission, Amb. Kadré Ouédraogo, reaffirmed the bloc’s commitment to the elimination of the malaria scourge in the region.
Ouédraogo, who was represented by the commission’s Vice President, said the sub- region still had a long way to go in the elimination of malaria but was “moving on the right path”.
“We wish to reassure the government and people of Rivers that we will do all within our power to ensure the successful implementation of this project,” he said.
The setting up of the factories in the member states, it stated, will enable supply of the product across the region as a means of strengthening the vector control strategy for malaria elimination.
According to the statement, the foundation stone laying ceremonies for the factories have taken place in Yamoussoukro and Port Harcourt, with that of Ghana expected in August 2013.
Malaria costs Africa more than 12 billion dollars annually in addition to hundreds of thousands of deaths, especially children under-five and pregnant women, with West Africa bearing a disproportionate level of the burden.
African leaders at the just-concluded Special Summit on HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria in Abuja, have resolved to “intensify the use of Larval Source Management where suitable for the control and elimination of malaria.”
This is in line with the World Health Organisation’s position on vector control being the only intervention capable of reducing malaria transmission from the highest level to zero.
