[Excerpt]
05 April 2011
Achim Steiner
Executive Director, UNEP
United Nations Avenue, Gigiri
PO Box 30552, 00100
Nairobi, Kenya
Dear Mr Steiner
NOTIFICATION OF SADC COUNTRIES RESPECTING DDT USE AND PRODUCTION
The Southern Africa Development Community wishes to notify the Secretariat of the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants and the Director-General World Health Organization (copied on this letter) of the intent of the SADC Member States to continue use and establish the production of DDT (1,1,1-trichloro-2,2-bis(4-chlorophenyl)ethane) for malaria control and elimination within the SADC Region.
On behalf of the SADC Member States, kindly accept this letter as notification of that fact for the purposes of Paragraph 1 of Part II of Annex B of the Stockholm Convention.
The SADC Member States do not take this step lightly. Given resource limitations and the unusual aggressiveness of malaria and goals of malaria elimination in the SADC Region, the majority of SADC Member States will find it very challenging to attain the Millennium Development Goals for malaria and related Goals such as for child and maternal mortality. Several Member States have made progress thanks to the judicious and responsible use of DDT indoor residual spraying, among other interventions, and the integrity of their malaria control and elimination programs depends on a predictable and accessible supply of DDT. As the SADC Health Ministers concluded in their meeting of 10-12 November 2010:
"Ministers reiterated their earlier policy position that the main strategy for
malaria control in SADC is IRS using DDT. To this end, Ministers agreed that
there was need for the region to explore a possibility of increasing access to
DDT either through local manufacturing in the region or through pooled
procurement. "
Member States:
Angola Lesotho Malawi Namibia Swaziland
Botswana Madagascar Mauritius Seycheles United Republic of Tanzania
Democratic Republique Democratique du Congo Mozambique South Africa Zambia Zimbabwe
All correspondence should be addressed to the Executive Secretary.
