Tanzanian President Benjamin Mkapa has called on his nation to beef up the fight against malaria, one of the leading killer diseases in the east African nation.

In his monthly address to the nation, President Mkapa appealed to render the fight against malaria a life-and-death matter and tosave the lives of children starting this year.

"Some children die for no apparent reason because their deaths could be prevented if the nation is resolved to take control measures against malaria," the president told the nation through television on Saturday.

The president cited alarming statistics that showed 100,000 Tanzanians die of malaria each year and of the victims 70,000 are children under five years of age. The death rate translates into one death for every five seconds nationwide.

"All these victims have no reason to die because malaria is curable at affordable prices," President Mkapa said, adding that the country loses 122 billion Tanzanian shillings (111 million US dollars) to malaria nationwide economically.

"This loss is outrageous, especially in a poor country like ours," said Mkapa, "so the war on malaria is war on poverty and the fight against malaria should be shouldered by all of us."

The Tanzanian government has increased its special fund five times this year to fight malaria. The fund now stands at 6.056 billion shillings (5.5 million dollars) against last year's 1.5 billion shillings.

The east African nation will also get funds from other sources,including the Global Fund for Malaria and HIV/AIDS, to fight the disease that is the number two killer disease behind HIV/AIDS thatclaims some 140,000 lives a year in Tanzania.

Source: Xinhua