As African leaders unveil the Zero Malaria Starts with Me campaign

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African leaders in attendance at the 31st African Union Summit held at Nouakchott, Mauritania launched the new Pan-African Zero Malaria Starts with Me campaign, co-led by the AU Commission and RBM Partnership to End Malaria and supported by African leaders

African leaders at the 29th AU Summit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
African leaders at the 29th AU Summit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

The new, continent-wide Pan-African Zero Malaria Starts with Me campaign being launched across Africa, co-led by the AU Commission and RBM Partnership, is designed to empower communities to take greater ownership of malaria prevention and care and mobilise additional resources for the plan to get more people involved in the fight against the disease that kills over 400,000 Africans every year.

Originally established as Roll Back Malaria (RBM) Partnership in 1998, the RBM Partnership to End Malaria is the largest global platform for coordinated action against malaria; it mobilises for action and resources and forges consensus among partners.

“Following reports that malaria cases have increased for the first time in more than a decade, Zero Malaria Starts with Me seeks to reignite a society-wide movement to get back on track efforts that contributed to a 60% decline in cases and saved an estimated 7 million lives since 2000, and to help meet the goal of eliminating malaria across Africa by 2030,” says a press statement by RBM Partnership.

“The campaign, unveiled Sunday during the AIDS Watch Africa Meeting at the 31st African Union Summit by President Macky Sall of Senegal and King Mswati III of Eswatini and endorsed by 55 (TBC) African Heads of State and Government today, empowers communities to take greater ownership of malaria prevention and care, and to mobilise additional resources for the effort.”

Speaking about the campaign, Paul Kagame, President of Rwanda cum Chair of the African Union says: “The African continent accounts for over 90% of the global malaria burden. It is in this context that we have launched the ‘Zero Malaria Starts with Me’ campaign, a continent-wide public-facing campaign for a malaria-free Africa.

“The campaign will reignite grassroot movements in which individuals, families, communities, religious leaders, private sector, political leaders, and other members of society pledge to take responsibility in the fight against malaria.”

Inspired by Senegal’s nationwide campaign of the same name launched in 2014, the Zero Malaria Starts with Me campaign is now being rolled out across the African continent to encourage all citizens – political, business, community and religious leaders, as well as individuals, families and communities – to make a personal commitment to ending malaria for good.

The RBM Partnership says over 20 African nations have already committed to supporting the campaign, with presidents of Uganda, Zambia and Mozambique already launching nationwide campaigns that include large-scale bed net distribution drives to establishing high-level national End Malaria Councils and parliamentary groups on malaria. Others, including the First Ladies of Ghana and Niger, have pledged to do more to engage leaders and communities to fight malaria in their countries.

“In my country, malaria has long been a major public health concern threatening the socio-economic development and structural transformation trajectory that has put our country on a firm path to sustainable development. It is through national ownership, shared responsibility and global solidarity that we can defeat malaria for good,” says President Macky Sall of Senegal.

HM King Mswati III of the Kingdom of Eswatini and Chair of the African Leaders’ Malaria Alliance believes the campaign “further reinvigorates our commitment to eliminate malaria in Africa as we now call upon all our people at all levels to work with us in ridding our continent of this scourge. I urge all governments to invest more in fighting the disease, however the success of this campaign will depend on partnerships and on collaboration across sectors and amongst our population, for as government, we cannot win this fight against malaria alone.”

Kesete Admasu, CEO of the RBM Partnership to End Malaria said the greatest threat to the fight against malaria in Africa was inaction and complacency. “We can be the generation to end this debilitating disease. Zero Malaria Starts with Me campaign seeks to build a winning coalition to end malaria in every country, bringing together partners from every sector. Zero Malaria starts with me, with you and with all of us,” said Admasu.

 

The Zero Malaria Starts with Me campaign offers simple tools to increase community participation in malaria elimination efforts, keep pressure up on leaders to stay committed to ending the disease, and forge new partnerships that can contribute additional funding that will increase access to treatment, improve diagnosis and prevention against the deadly disease. Campaign resources are provided via a Zero Malaria Starts with Me toolkit available at www.zeromalaria.africa.