There were 3.5 million more malaria cases reported in 10 African countries in 2017 compared to 2016. In response to this situation, the African Union Commission and the RBM Partnership to End Malaria launched the “Zero Malaria Starts with Me” movement across the African continent during the 31st African Union Summit in July 2018. This movement was based on a campaign originally launched by the Ministry of Health and Social Action of Senegal in 2014 in partnership with Speak Up Africa and PATH. This now Pan-African campaign is based on three pillars: generating political commitment, mobilizing private sector engagement and financing and crucially, increasing community engagement and ownership.
Civil society plays a key role in influencing and promoting public dialogue about decisions that affect the lives of millions, while holding governments and policymakers publicly accountable. We recognize that civil society stakeholders can highlight significant issues through their knowledge of local contexts, offer valuable technical expertise and insights to supplement available data, suggest innovative approaches to problems, and provide important perspectives on malaria control and elimination policies and initiatives. Therefore, we will aim to develop local capacity of malaria champions to reinforce our policy change objective and support the national program’s resource mobilization goals. Speak Up Africa will further foster cross sectoral collaboration by focusing on convening, coordinating and sustaining national advocacy efforts.
Learn more at www.zeromalaria.africa
A central objective for the Ouagadougou Partnership is to double the number of modern contraceptives to 13 million by 2030.
The Ouagadougou Partnership focuses on improving coordination between donors to optimize their support across countries, as well as enhancing collaboration and cooperation at the national and regional levels to ensure family planning needs are met. The Partnership aims to support operational partners and civil society by:
The Ouagadougou Partnership is supported by a small Coordination Unit (the OPCU) hosted by Speak Up Africa and based in Dakar, Senegal to organize events, lead activities on the ground and coordinate partners in countries and donors.
Thanks to the partners’ efforts so far, an additional 1.18 million women in Africa are using modern contraceptives since 2011. A stronger focus on women’s equality and reproductive health will be instrumental to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals in Africa and through our work with the Ouagadougou Partnership, we hope to further raise awareness and advocate for this crucial issue.
ACCESS-SMC is a project financed by UNITAID and implemented by Malaria Consortium in partnership with Catholic Relief Services. Its objective is to support the national malaria control programs of Burkina Faso, The Gambia, Guinea, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, and Chad in their efforts to scale up seasonal malaria chemoprevention in the Sahel region.
This 3-year project is supported by the Centre de Support en Santé International (CSSI, a Chadian NGO focusing on health support); the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine; Management Sciences for Health; Medicines for Malaria Venture and Speak Up Africa. The World Health Organization recommends SMC as an effective malaria control tool for the 25 million children living in areas subject to a high seasonal incidence of malaria. The project has contributed to a reduction of malaria transmission in children aged 3 months to 5 years and has helped protect some 6.3 million children throughout the region in 2015 and 2016.
Key ACCESS-SMC facts and figures:
− SMC reduces all simple and severe malaria attacks by about 75% and can be effectively scaled up.
− 90% of the target children were reached and more than 70% received at least three monthly treatments.
− The ACCESS-SMC project has reinforced public health program monitoring systems and over 50,000 health workers and volunteers have been trained on efficient SMC administration, supervision and monitoring.
− SMC provides a high degree of personal protection from malaria for children in areas where malaria is seasonal. It costs approximately US$4 per child annually. Very few serious side effects were observed and an independent evaluation revealed no problems.
Key figures of the Football Combating Malaria campaign:
− 225 teams of supervisors and community agents mobilized;
− 228 social mobilization activities for distribution and awareness-raising;
− 396 malaria talks held in schools;
− 77,400 people educated on malaria issues during social mobilization activities;
− 29,217 students educated during school talks; and
− 70,000 long lasting insecticide treated nets distributed.
We and our partners are committed to increasing immunizations in Africa so that life-saving vaccines reach those who need them the most. We achieve this by raising the profile of immunization on policymakers’ agenda, promoting sustainable resource allocation for immunization at both national and international levels, strengthening coalitions and increasing demand for quality immunization services. We know that major changes won’t happen without the support and engagement of political leaders and local communities. So, we work at all levels to ensure that individual and collective action is combined with political acts to create long-lasting impact.
Our work on immunization spans different geographies, diseases and actors. Over the years we have worked with local mayors to encourage them to advocate among their peers for routine immunization; created campaigns to empower communities to take simple, proven measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19; and worked with First Ladies to promote increased routine immunization and funding, and more.