EPF brought from 26 August to 1 September 2007 four Member of Parliament, from Sweden, Spain, Lithuania, and Germany to Cameroon on a study tour to stimulate new thinking among Parliamentarians and young political parties’ leaders about efforts they could undertake in order to secure a comprehensive and sustained response to malaria in the development policies of their own countries

During the week-long study tour the delegation visited a local initiative related to malaria prevention set-up by Plan Project and implemented by EMICAM in Etol village; visited two rural hospitals, the District Hospital of Akonolinga in the Centre Province and the District Hospital of Bali in the North-West Province and had several offical meetings with parliamentarians of Cameroon, Minister of Finance and they were received by the Minister of Public Health who presented the malaria burden in Cameroon and introduced the National Malaria Control Programme (NMCP) as well as the successes and challenges related to the fight against malaria in Cameroon.

Key objectives of the study tour to Cameroon:
 

• To provide European Parliamentarians and Young Decision Makers invaluable insight on the malaria burden and the needs to tackle the disease in Cameroon
• To enable participants to gain first-hand experience of the reality of the situation in a developing country and see the existing tools, ways, projects and programs that aim at preventing and treating the disease locally
• To raise awareness and reinforce commitment of European Parliamentarians and the young leaders of youth political parties on the need to address malaria control

Delegation
Hon. Karl Addicks, MP, Germany, Free Democratic Party (Liberal)
Hon. Isaura Navarro Casillas, MP, Spain, United Left Party
Hon. Jadvyga Zinkeviciute, MP, Lithuania, Labour Party (Liberal)
Young Decision Maker
Matilda Stålbert, Sweden, Leader of Christian Democratic Youth

“Malaria remains the greatest killer and slows down development in the country”.
The challenge is to make sure that every single person sleeps under an insecticide-treated mosquito net”
Matilda Stalbert, youth political leader, Sweden.

“We observed a lot of conscientiousness in the commitment and efforts to fight malaria in the field.”
Hon. Isaura Navarro Casillas, MP Spain.

“Educating the masses and better coordination of resources will yield positive results.”
Hon. Jadvyga Zinkeviciute, MP Lithuania.

“We have seen some projects, we have seen problems… we are going back to invite our governments to get involved.”
Hon. Karl Addicks, MP Germany.