Paris, 25 April 2000 {No.2000-38} - UNESCO Director-General Koïchiro Matsuura addressed the African Summit "Roll Back Malaria" in Abuja, Nigeria, on Monday with a call for a global mobilisation to vanquish the disease which kills over one million people every year, mostly in Africa.

Mr Matsuura highlighted the importance of helping African countries develop their research base to fight malaria and warned: "Without a scientific capacity of its own, Africa will not be able to tackle and overcome its endemic diseases. It will not be able to play a full role in the research for a malaria vaccine. It will not be able to develop its own cost-effective anti-malaria products. It will not be able to explore the scientific potential of its traditional remedies."

The Director-General called for "a major funding commitment in each and every country where malaria is endemic." He appealed to both the donor community and to the heavily indebted countries to engage in debt swaps for science: "For the many African nations which qualify for debt relief, the allocation of resources freed by debt reduction to science and technology can offer a means of breaking the vicious circle of under-development. It offers an entry to the knowledge society."

Mr Matsuura pledged UNESCO's support for countries entering this process and declared: "Today, even the least developed countries cannot afford not to build up a national science base. Our globalised, connected world shows us every day the power of shared knowledge. But to share knowledge means sharing as active partners, not as passive recipients."

The Director-General described the development of research capacity as an urgent need and a long-term answer to the problem of malaria and called on the development banks, the international donor community and the business sector to support this effort. He further promised UNESCO's backing to the fight against malaria and said: "Education clearly plays a pivotal role in malaria prevention. UNESCO expects to develop educational tools and also to implement basic research training programmes."

Speaking ahead of the World Education Forum which opens in Dakar tomorrow, Mr Matsuura said that "the great challenges Africa is facing in education cannot be overcome if diseases like malaria are undermining the strategies set up to achieve the goals of Education for All [...] By ensuring the health and education of your peoples, you are offering them the strongest tool of all for the eradication of poverty," Mr Matsuura concluded.