Making malaria control a priority: a lesson for today's malaria community.

For malaria control to be successful, experience has shown that success is more likely where all involved feel the attempt must not be allowed to fail, and that success can be the only acceptable outcome. Importantly, all those at the top must have such commitment, and, in particular, this should also include the funder, the source of finance of the attempt. That would be malaria control treated as a priority. If not treated as such, experience has shown the outcome of such attempts to be disappointing.