World Malaria Day 2019: Paris serves as host city come April 25

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The RBM Partnership to End Malaria has announced that Paris, the French capital, will be the official host city of the 2019 United Nations World Malaria Day scheduled for April 25; under the theme: “Zero Malaria Starts with Me.” The event is aimed at raising global awareness about the scourge of malaria and preventing the spread of one of the world`s deadliest diseases – malaria.

World Malaria Day, which takes place on April 25 each year, is a global observance day highlighting the global efforts to end malaria and presents an opportunity to engage global leaders, civil society, the private sector, academic institutions and the general public in countries around the world. This year`s World Malaria Day is focused on empowering individuals across the world to make a personal commitment to saving million more lives and help communities and economies to thrive by ending malaria.

 “In partnership with the city of Paris and the French Government, a series of events will be organized across the city center, recognizing, the importance of Francophone contributions to the fight against malaria, and the need to step up the fight to accelerate progress against the preventable and treatable disease,” says a press statement by the RBM Partnership to End Malaria.

Winnie Mpanju-Shumbusho, board chair, RBM Partnership to End Malaria, observed that World Malaria Day offers people all over the world the opportunity to step up the fight against malaria at a time when global malaria cases were on the rise and funding has flat-lined.

“We cannot accept this as status quo, rather each one of us must commit to ensuring universal access to life-saving interventions for the hundreds of millions of people around the world still at risk of malaria. By taking global action, we will protect the significant gains made against malaria and extend them to the most vulnerable communities, primarily women and children,” said Mpanju-Shumbusho.

The RBM Partnership to End Malaria prides itself as the largest global platform for coordinated action towards world free malaria. Since its establishment in 1998, the RBM Partnership is said to have played a critical role in global efforts that reduced malaria deaths by over 60% and saved 7 million lives.