African Union Summit: Seven Countries Awarded for their Effective Malaria Control Efforts.

During the opening ceremony of the African Union Summit held on January 30th, 2014, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, seven countries received the 2014 African Leaders Malaria Alliance (ALMA) Awards for Excellence in Vector Control for their leadership in malaria control and their active efforts to put an end to all malaria related deaths: Cape Verde, Madagascar, Malawi, Namibia, Rwanda, Sao Tomé and Principe and Swaziland.

Amongst other criteria and implemented malaria control interventions, countries awarded have maintained at least 95% coverage year-round of long-lasting insecticidal nets (LLIN) and/or have executed Indoor Residual Spraying (IRS) interventions.

ALMA is an Alliance of African Heads of State and Governments working to end malaria-related deaths. This Alliance was created to utilize the individual and collective power of African Heads of State to keep malaria high on the political and policy agenda at national, regional and global levels. Malaria remains a leading cause of child deaths and kills 627,000 people every year, mostly in Africa. However, the African continent has made great progress in the delivery and use of life-saving tools in the fight against malaria, including insecticide-treated mosquito net, systematic use of rapid diagnostic tests, and effective treatments such as artemisinin combination therapies.

For more information about ALMA and for a profile of the progress shown by the seven winning countries, please visit www.alma2015.org.