Professor Ogobora Dounbo, the head of the Mali-based Malaria Research Centre, has said that Africa is faced with a disease calamity that might outweigh the consequences of the 2004 tsunami that hit parts of Asia if urgent efforts are not directed at halting the scourge of malaria on the continent.

Professor Duonbo made this remark last Monday in the ongoing Global Ministerial Forum on Research for Health currently holding in the Malian capital, Bamako. He further revealed that The Gambian also joined a few other African countries that have made remarkable breakthroughs in scaling down malaria cases annually.

Professor Duonbo revealed that malaria, which is regarded as one of Africa's biggest health problems, currently kills an estimated one million people yearly in the region, a record Duonbo says is three times the enormity of the tsunami disaster that killed about 300,000 people.

"Mali has provided a good template for other countries to follow on malaria research and development of interventions.  Nigerian scientists and researchers are in constant touch with us in Mali and we do correspond with them often, which gives the impression that hopes still lies in the offing," he added.

According to Duonbo, Nigeria's inability to effectively reduce nd eliminate the huge number of people falling ill and dying due to malaria could cause a situation similar to polio - for which Nigeria has been cited as one of the countries holding back the world from eradicating the disease.

Speaking on the outcome of current research on tropical diseases at the Mali Malaria Centre in Bamako, Duonbo added that collaboration between Malian scientists in the diaspora and the institute has succeeded in giving a cutting edge to new medicines that are hopeful in malaria eradication.

He said while the disease remains a number one killer on the continent, claiming over one million lives annually, trainings and researches on vaccines have shown some progress. He, however, noted that Africa and the world has achieved very little breakthrough in the area of malaria vaccines, but was hopeful that a veritable solution to the malaria scourge would soon emerge.