The ground breaking ceremony for the construction of three factories in West 
Africa to produce biolarvicides under the regional Malaria Elimination 
Campaign Programme took place in Abidjan on 28th February 2013, on the margins 
of the 42nd Ordinary Summit of ECOWAS Heads of State and Government.

The ceremony, which formally marked the beginning of the processes for the 
construction of the factories, included the unveiling of a plaque by the 
Chairman of the Authority of ECOWAS Heads of State and Government, President 
Alassane Outtara of Côte d'Ivoire and the President of the ECOWAS Commission, 
His Excellency Kadré Désiré Ouédraogo.

Official statistics show that in Africa, malaria has killed more people than 
all the wars in the continent combined with a child dying every 30 second from 
the scourge.
In addition, malaria, described as a disease of the poor as well as a major 
development challenge, kills more than 10,000 pregnant women and 200,000 of 
their infants every year in the continent, with the burden heaviest in West 
Africa. 
This grim picture coupled with the fact that malaria accounts for around 40 
percent of public health expenditure in endemic countries, and costs Africa 
some 12 billion US dollars in lost productivity make the support for the 
ECOWAS Malaria Elimination Campaign all the more compelling. 
However, the good news is that according the World Health Organizations (WHO) 
has recognized vector control which encompasses biolarviciding as one of the 
major effective strategies for malaria elimination
The three West African biolarvicide factories are to be located in Côte 
d'Ivoire, Ghana and Nigeria's Rivers State, with technical assistance of Cuba 
and the financial support of the government of the Bolivarian Republic of 
Venezuela, under a tripartite agreement between the two countries and ECOWAS 
for the elimination of malaria in West Africa.

A tripartite agreement signed in 2009 focuses on the strengthening the vector 
control component of the region’s multi-sectoral malaria control strategy.

President Ouedraogo said the ceremony demonstrated the determination of 
regional leaders to win the war against malaria through the vector control 
programme that has been acknowledged as the World Health Organisation as the 
only mode of intervention that can reduce malaria transmission from its 
present high level to zero.

Speaking at the ground breaking ceremony, President Ouédraogo extolled the 
efficacy of vector control component of the malaria control strategy and 
pledged that the Commission would support Member States in implementing it in 
the spirit of its vision of a people-centred regional integration agenda.

Pilot programmes using the vector control in Ghana, Burkina Faso and Nigeria 
have shown encouraging results with 75 per cent reduction in Accra over three 
years, a 63 per cent reduction in the Rivers State capital Port Harcourt, over 
two years, while Ouagadougou the Burkina Faso capital recorded a 15 per cent 
reduction during 15 months of application.