Health
By Kennedy Nnamani
A month to the 2022 World Malaria Day, the Roll Back Malaria, RBM, Partnership to end malaria and wider global health community will invite countries to meet the Global Fund’s Seventh Replenishment target of $18 billion to fund malaria, HIV and TB programmes from 2024-2026.
This is in response to the World Malaria Report 2021, which earlier highlighted that death from the disease in Africa are significantly higher than previous estimate with children under five accounting for 80% in the region and another new study published in The Lancet, which presented the potential for a new class of insecticide-treated nets to combat growing insecticide resistance.
Thus this year’s World Malaria Day, which will focus on Advancing Equity, Building resilience and Ending malaria will respond to these challenges. It will equally create awareness of the immediate need for action and targeted scale up of existing and new tools, which will help countries rapidly mitigate the disease.
In line with this, come 25 April, Uhuru Kenyatta, President of Kenya will host an event with the African Leaders’ Malaria Alliance, ALMA, to engage donor and malaria-endemic country leaders on this issue, corresponding to a partners event hosted in the U.S, which will host the Global Fund Replenishment conference later in the year.
According to estimate, the Global Fund finances 56% of global malaria programmes and, if fully resourced, the Global Fund will save 20 million lives from the three diseases, while reinforcing systems for health and pandemic preparedness. It could also reduce malaria cases by two-thirds and malaria deaths by 62% and eliminate malaria in at least six countries by 2026.
Pro. Maha Taysir Barakat, Chairman, RBM Partnership to End Malaria Board, had earlier been reported as saying that “Global efforts and strategic investments have set the stage for countries to dramatically reduce malaria cases and deaths to meet the global goal of ending malaria by 2030. But reaching zero will require the global community to fight malaria differently – particularly in countries with a high burden of malaria.”
Elizabeth Chizema, Secretariat Officer, African Leaders Malaria Alliance, ALMA, End Malaria Council and Member, RBM Partnership to End Malaria Board, was also quoted noting the importance of the collective support from countries.
According to Chizema, “Over the last two years, long-term investments to end malaria have proven critical in mitigating the impact of COVID-19 and strengthening health systems that serve as a pathway for countries’ capacity for future pandemic preparedness. Growing challenges also highlight the role of ongoing investments in researching; developing and accelerating the targeted scale up of current and transformative interventions to reach everyone at risk of malaria with life-saving tools.”
KN
Tags: African Leaders’ Malaria Alliance Elizabeth Chizema Pro. Maha Taysir Barakat Uhuru Kenyatta World Malaria Day
