African Leader’s Malaria Alliance
On 11 May, three ALMA Chairs, His Excellency Uhuru Kenyatta, President of Kenya and Chair of ALMA, Her Excellency Ellen Johnson Sirleaf former President of Liberia and former ALMA Chair and His Excellency Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete of the United Republic of Tanzania issued a statement on behalf of the End Malaria Council calling for continued essential health services like malaria prevention and control, while responding to the COVID 19 global pandemic. H.E. Uhuru Kenyatta is the President of Kenya, the Chair of the African Leaders Malaria Alliance and a member of the End Malaria Council, said: “I am committed to working with fellow heads of state and government on a coordinated and harmonized response to COVID-19 that stamps out this pandemic while continuing to provide essential health services to our citizens. Nothing is more important than protecting our women, children and men from preventable and treatable diseases like malaria. These efforts will help us to sustain the significant gains that we have made driving down malaria cases and deaths over the past twenty years.” The statements of Her Excellency Ellen Johnson Sirleaf former President of Liberia and former ALMA Chair and His Excellency Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete of the United Republic of Tanzania of can be found here.
On World Malaria Day, Joy Phumaphi, Executive Secretary of the African Leaders Malaria Alliance, stepped up to say that “the response to COVID-19 is – and must be – all-encompassing. The worry is that efforts to protect against malaria may go off the radar, with huge implications for public health in Africa.” She added that ALMA has committed to supporting countries in the increased use of data and technology, which will drive impact and change. Her full statement can be found here.
The World Malaria Day 2020 Statement by His Excellency H.E. President Uhuru Kenyatta, Chair of ALMA, highlighted that “in many African countries, malaria is the leading cause of visits to health facilities and for poorer households these bouts of illness and expenditure on medication and treatment remain a challenge to financial growth and stability.” He added that “We should implement an integrated approach to controlling COVID-19 while maintaining malaria services as part of essential health packages”, as envisioned in Universal Health Coverage. He noted that efforts should focus on the following:
1. Protect the gains in malaria control through prevention, treatments, and emerging interventions such as the malaria vaccine which is under phased implementation in Kenya, Ghana and Malawi.
2. Boost African purchasing power and local manufacturing of critical medical supplies including regional partnerships and collaborations
3. Increase youth engagement as our “Malaria Army” in deployment of interventions around community services, surveillance, health education and advocacy towards community ownership.
4. Build on Technology Platforms and Data Capacity to combat COVID-19 and sustain the gains in the fight against malaria
His Excellency’s full statement can be found here.
Asia Pacific Leader’s Malaria Alliance
The Asia Pacific Leaders Malaria Alliance welcomed Dr. Sarthak Das as CEO, who took up office on 1 May 2020. Dr. Das brings twenty-five years of experience as a public health scientist, development practitioner, and global health policy advisor. As CEO, Dr. Das will look to strengthen regional collaboration and cooperation with stakeholders, a key component to supporting the Leaders’ commitments to ending malaria by 2030. More information about Dr. Das’s background can be found here.
APLMA is looking at the interconnection between malaria and climate change. In April, the organization published a short piece highlighting that climate change is creating more suitable conditions for vector-borne diseases such as malaria. As a result, malaria is moving into new places where both people and health systems are not used to fighting the disease, and the periods when mosquitoes can reproduce and transmit malaria are also getting longer. This is particularly true in Asia-Pacific region. APLMA urges all countries in Asia-Pacific to act now, reminding us that climate change is not something that will hit us in the distant future. It is here now and it is already impacting health and livelihoods of communities across the globe. The article can be found on APLMA’s website here.
In light of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, APLMA and the Asia Pacific Malaria Elimination Network (APMEN) postponed upcoming events scheduled for April and May including Malaria Week 2020, the APLMA Senior Officials’ Meeting, and the APMEN Annual Meeting. These events should be rescheduled for later this year.
The President’s Malaria Initiative
On World Malaria Day, the President’s Malaria Initiative (PMI) released its 14th Annual Report to the Congress of the United States. The report explains the importance of continuing malaria programs during the COVID-19 pandemic, and highlights how the capacity and systems PMI help partner countries put in place to combat malaria also strengthen their ability to respond to other health threats. In its annual message, Ken Staley, MD, U.S. Global Malaria Coordinator celebrated the successes of the past year and underscored the need for continued investments toward our shared goal of malaria eradication. He explained that to mitigate the impact of COVID-19 on malaria programming, PMI has created technical guidance for its programs and is supporting partner countries to innovate and evolve their approaches to continue delivering proven malaria interventions during the COVID-19 pandemic. PMI also spearheaded the development of global guidelines for malaria interventions, and is working with the Global Fund, the RBM Partnership to End Malaria, and others to ensure robust and coordinated assistance for countries. In response to the supply chain impact of COVID-19, PMI has been working closely with the Global Fund to identify impacted products and orders, prioritize country needs, and work with suppliers to ensure countries continue to receive life-saving malaria products.
His full statement can be found here.
The Global Fund to Fight HIV, TB, and Malaria
The Global Fund released the primary version of its Strategy Development Landscape Analysis for Malaria. As it is now over half-way through its current Strategy, the Global Fund is starting the process of developing its next Strategy, which will commence in 2023. The next Strategy will need to set out how the Global Fund aims to contribute to achievement of the ambitious 2030 goals for HIV, TB, malaria, and health more broadly as set out in Sustainable Development Goal 3 (SDG 3).
The Global Fund is asking stakeholders for their input into what the focus and role of the Global Fund should be to best achieve these aims. Open consultation will run until 1st September 2020, and the 2023 Strategy will be approved in November or December 2021.
On 27 May, Peter Sands, Executive Director of the Global Fund made remarks to the 43rd Board Meeting of the Global Fund, which was held between 14-15 May 2020. He pointed that the COVID-19 crisis threatens to derail the fight against HIV, TB and malaria. He called for all of us to “engage in the broader debate about how to fight COVID-19 and mitigate its damage in countries which might be easily forgotten by the rest of the world.” His full statement can be found here.
The Global Fund’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic makes available up to US$1 billion through:
Grant flexibilities: Through grant flexibilities, countries can use up to 5% of existing Global Fund grants to fight COVID-19 and mitigate the impact the pandemic has on HIV, TB and malaria programs. Funding approved for the COVID-19 response can be found here.
COVID-19 Response Mechanism: Through the COVID-19 Response Mechanism, countries can access funding to reinforce the response to COVID-19, mitigate the impact of the pandemic on HIV, TB and malaria programs, and make urgent improvements in health and community systems. The mechanism has an initial allocation of US$500 million.