1. Bono, lead singer of U2 and co-founder of The One Campaign, enters room
2. Bono sitting with singer Youssou N'Dour
3. Close-up of N'Dour
4. SOUNDBITE: (English) Ban ki-Moon, UN Secretary-General:
"As I told the General Assembly on Monday, Tuesday and today, our approach to malaria can serve as a model for other campaigns to battle the evils we face now. Not just with disease, but hunger, poverty, illiteracy and gender inequality. The great progress we have seen on malaria comes thanks to you, the generous donors and our other partners, who are putting their money to good use."
5. SOUNDBITE: (English) Bono, Singer of U2:
"I'd like to say that I'm not here as a rock star. Really, I'm here as a fan. I'm a fan of Malaria No More, what you two gentlemen have done is extraordinary. I'm a great fan of Africa, in particular. I'm a fan of these leaders, incredible: Kagame (Rwanda's President Paul Kagame), Kikwete (Tanzania's President Jakaya Kikwete), President Kufuor (Ghana's President John Kufuor). I'm in their fan club. And I'm a great fan of the physicians and the scientists, who've gathered on this problem, Bill Gates - he's a rock star."
6. Bill Gates, co-chair of The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, sitting next to Gordon Brown, British Prime Minister
7. SOUNDBITE: (English) Bill Gates, co-chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation:
"Beyond that, we want to have a vaccine that has even better effect, that has hundred percent coverage, and in order to promote that, we're announcing, today, the Gates Foundation is giving an additional 168 million (US dollars) to the Malaria Vaccine Initiative."
8. Gates, Brown seated next to Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete
9. SOUNDBITE: (English) Gordon Brown, British Prime Minister:
"This is a historic meeting and a historic moment, and I think people are beginning to realise, everybody here, that it's not just a one billion dollar moment, it's going to be a three- three and a half billion dollar moment. And I want to thank Ray and Peter for everything they've done. This campaign, and the campaigns with the Malaria Roll Back Partnership, have achieved more in a year, than most campaigns achieve in a hundred years. Thank you very much for what you've done."
10. Mid of stage
11. SOUNDBITE: (English) Jakaya Kikwete, Tanzanian President:
"First it is true that indeed, in Zanzibar we have reached a point where we may soon announce that malaria has been eliminated, which to us is a big success. Of course our preoccupation now is to create the mechanism to sustain the success, so that we don't have a re-emergence. Because, we have succeeded - this is the third time we have succeeded in Zanzibar. We want this time to be the final time."
12. Mid of stage
13. SOUNDBITE: (English) Kevin Rudd, Australian Prime Minister:
"But to all other governments here, can I say: let us not drop the baton when the focus comes off this meeting. The hard work will be next week and the week after and the year after and the year after that. Our proposal's modest: it's to deal with our own neighbourhood. But we'll take it from there. Thanks very much."
14. Bono leaving the room after the meeting
World leaders and celebrities gathered in New York on Thursday announced a new commitment of nearly three (b) billion US dollars to the fight against malaria.
With the number of malaria deaths approaching one (m) million a year, most of them infants and toddlers, the infectious disease has become a scourge in remote areas of Africa and Southeast Asia.
But officials said Thursday, malaria as a mass child killer would be virtually eliminated globally by 2015 under the new plan, which is backed by nearly three (b) billion US dollar in pledges, and could, as UN Secretary General Ban ki-Moon said, serve as "a model for other campaigns to battle the evils we face now".
"Not just with disease, but hunger, poverty, illiteracy and gender inequality. The great progress we have seen on malaria comes thanks to you, the generous donors and our other partners, who are putting their money to good use," Ban told the 2008 Malaria Summit.
Led by the Secretary-General's Special Envoy on Malaria, Ray Chambers, who is also co-chairman of the NGO, Malaria No More, the summit brought together government leaders, health ministers, NGOs and leaders from business and industry as part of the Millennium Development Goals.
The ambitious public-private coalition intends to eliminate malaria deaths by 2015, with possible eradication of the disease by 2020.
Specifically, the plan aims to reduce those deaths to almost zero within just seven years by providing better access to bed nets, indoor spraying, improved diagnosis and treatment, preventative measures for pregnant women and development of new vaccines.
The plan was unveiled with much hoopla on Thursday by U.N. officials, Microsoft founder Bill Gates, U2 frontman Bono, "American Idol" creator Simon Fuller, News Corporation's president Peter Chernin and other heads of state and ministers from Australia, Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Sri Lanka, Tanzania and Zambia.
Bono, who attended the meeting along with fellow singer, Youssou N'Dour, praised those involved.
"I'd like to say that I'm not here as a rock-star. Really, I'm here as a fan. I'm a fan of Malaria No More," the Irish rocker said. "I'm a great fan of Africa, in particular. I'm a fan of these leaders, incredible: Kagame, Kikwete, President Kufuor. I'm in their fan club. And I'm a great fan of the physicians and the scientists, who've gathered on this problem."
The plan was sponsored by the Roll Back Malaria Partnership, which was launched in 1998 by the World Bank and three U.N. agencies: the World Health Organisation, the United Nations Children's Fund and the United Nations Development Programme.
British Prime Minister, Gordon Brown also offered kind words on the programme.
"This is a historic meeting and a historic moment, and I think people are beginning to realise here that it's not just a one billion dollar moment, it's going to be a three- three and a half billion dollar moment," said Brown.
"This campaign, and the campaigns with the Malaria Roll Back Partnership, have achieved more in a year, than most campaigns achieve in a hundred years," he said.
Microsoft founder Bill Gates, who Bono described as a "rock star" for his charitable work, said greater innovation was needed in the fight against malaria, such as developing new vaccines.
"We want to have a vaccine that has even better effect, that has hundred percent coverage, and in order to promote that, we're announcing, today, the Gates Foundation is giving an additional 168 million US dollars to the Malaria Vaccine Initiative."
The grant was one of many from the private sector announced around the meeting. The largest single pledge to the campaign was 1.1 (b) billion US dollars from the World Bank.
The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria is giving 1.62 (b) billion over two years, Britain pledged more than 70 (m) million dollars, while Marathon Oil and a coalition of businesses pledged 28 (m) million dollars.
Significant progress in the fight against the disease has been made in parts of Africa, according to Tanzania's president.
"In Zanzibar we have reached a point where we may soon announce that malaria has been eliminated, which to us is a big success," said Jakaya Kikwete. "Of course our preoccupation now is to create the mechanism to sustain the success, so that we don't have a re-emergence."
Originally approved in 2000 by member states, the eight Development Goals are to slash poverty and hunger; achieve universal primary education; promote gender equality; reduce child mortality; improve maternal health; combat aids, malaria and other diseases; ensure environmental stability; and develop a global partnership for development.
Nearly a quarter billion people get malaria each year, according to a WHO report last week. That figure halved an earlier estimate of 500 million, based on improved measurement techniques.
WHO left unchanged its latest figure for malaria deaths: 881,000 people killed by malaria in 2006, most of them children under 5.
But to meet the plan's ambitious goals, leaders say they will need to collect donations totalling more than six(b) billion worldwide by 2010, including 2.86 (b) billion for Africa, and then spend up to 900 (m) million each year after that for more research on vaccines, drugs and other new preventative tools.
