Partnership to End Malaria celebrates 20th anniversary, launches media fellowship

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 In commemoration of the 20th anniversary of its founding, RBM Partnership to End Malaria, the global platform for co-ordinated action on malaria, Tuesday announced the launch of a new media fellowship “to build on achievements which to date have contributed to saving more than 7 million lives and preventing over 1 billion malaria cases.”

The media fellowship targets journalists from 11 countries with the highest burden of malaria in the world, 10 of which are in Africa. The 11 countries, according to the most recent World Malaria Report, were Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Democratic Republic of the Congo, India and Ghana. Others are Mali, Mozambique, Niger, Nigeria, Uganda as well as the United Republic of Tanzania.

“To celebrate this anniversary, the Partnership is today announcing the launch of the RBM Partnership to End Malaria media fellowship, offering journalists from the 11 countries with the highest burdens of malaria the opportunity to learn from leading malaria experts and be introduced to some of the exciting projects on the ground in their regions, to support and inspire journalists in making a real difference in eliminating malaria through their work,” said a press statement by the Partnership.

As it celebrates 20 years of fight against the scourge of malaria, the Partnership also reflects on the greatest achievements of the global malaria-fighting community in the two previous decades, the statement said, which included “reducing deaths caused by malaria by over 60%, and contributing to a 1,000% increase in malaria funding”.

“Successful candidates [for the media fellowship] will meet with some of the world’s leading health and malaria experts to understand the key challenges and opportunities for ending malaria in their home countries. According to latest WHO data, 10 countries in sub-Saharan Africa and India represent over 70% of the world’s malaria cases,” said the statement.

“The RBM Partnership will provide support to the selected fellows with their projects and features relating to malaria for one year. Journalists will be encouraged to explore their own interests within the field, and to delve deeper into solutions that could be employed to meet their country’s challenges from the malaria burden.”

Originally established as Roll Back Malaria (RBM) in 1998 by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the World Bank, the RBM Partnership to End Malaria has today become the largest global platform for coordinated action against malaria.

Further details of how to apply to RBM’s media fellowship can be found at: https://endmalaria.org/sites/default/files/Media%20fellowship%20application%20form.pdf