We were delighted to be joined by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to host a virtual event highlighting the incredible progress made by African countries in mobilising public and private domestic resources through national End Malaria Councils (EMCs) and End Malaria Funds (EMFs).

During the event, we shared how Eswatini, Mozambique and Zambia have used the councils and funds to mobilise advocacy, action, resources, and accountability for the fight against malaria.

We also launched the End Malaria Council and Fund toolkit. This toolkit is designed to help countries establish and improve national End Malaria Councils and Funds, as well as learn best practices from other African countries.

What we learnt during the webinar

Since 2000, the African region has made significant progress in the fight against malaria. Nevertheless, malaria remains a leading cause of illness and death, and progress against malaria has stagnated.

Under the leadership of His Excellency President Uhuru Kenyatta (current ALMA chair), we are working to establish 15 national End Malaria Councils and Funds to help defeat malaria across the region. These councils and funds aim to mobilise additional domestic public and private resources and engage local country leaders across all sectors.

It has been a great joy watching these End Malaria Councils and Funds come to life. There is no one-size-fits-all approach. Each is unique and tailored to the local context. We remain committed to providing technical assistance and support to countries across the region.

Joy Phumaphi, Executive Secretary, ALMA

End Malaria Councils and Funds are innovative public-private partnerships, focused on removing the barriers that slow progress against malaria.

Dr Paulin Basinga, Director, Health, Africa, Gates Foundation

Countries with EMCs

End Malaria Councils and Funds have launched in:

• Eswatini
• Kenya
• Mozambique
• Uganda
• Zambia

EMCs already announced

End Malaria Councils have already been announced in:

• Burkina Faso
• Cameroon
• South Africa

EMCs in the planning phase

The following countries are in the planning phase of launching an End Malaria Council:

• Democratic Republic of the Congo
• Gabon
• Rwanda
• Tanzania

Advocacy and action

During the webinar, Zambia, Mozambique and Eswatini shared how their councils and funds engage:

• community leaders
• traditional leaders
• religious leaders
• parliamentarians
• civil society organisations
• young people

Zambia and Mozambique shared how they have involved local community and religious leaders who have acted as trusted messengers, sharing key malaria prevention information and the importance of ending malaria.

Zambia has also established provincial End Malaria Councils to convene additional leaders at the community level. This is helping the country develop networks of community-based malaria champions.

Resource mobilisation

The webinar highlighted several ways councils and funds have been vital in mobilising resources and engaging the private sector in the fight against malaria, including:

• resolving a funding gap for transporting insecticide and other malaria commodities in Zambia through a council member, First Quantum Mining, agreeing to transport the commodities for free
• helping to fund salaries for indoor residual spraying teams in Eswatini, after they discovered a significant number of additional households needed to be sprayed
• Mozambique’s Fundo da Malaria hosting their first donor conference to mobilise resources to support their national malaria control programme

Development partners and donor support

The webinar also highlighted the importance of development partners being involved in End Malaria Councils and Funds.

Zambia’s council has established a task team composed of representatives from the national malaria elimination centre, the council and fund’s secretariat and development partners. This team meets each week to review the status of malaria, discuss challenges and collaborate to develop solutions.

Help us to establish 15 national End Malaria Councils and Funds

To close the webinar, our executive secretary, Joy Phumaphi, encouraged attendees and partners to help us achieve His Excellency President Uhuru Kenyatta’s legacy goal of establishing 15 national councils and funds.

The ALMA team can provide technical assistance with establishing a council and fund, including:

• best practices and materials to accelerate the design and implementation
• facilitation of a working team to design and implement the council and fund
• assistance with documentation and launching of the council and fund
• on-going support for resource mobilisation, communications and action

To learn more about establishing an End Malaria Council and Fund in your country, visit our new online toolkit or email emc@alma2030.org.

End Malaria Council toolkit

This toolkit helps countries establish and improve national End Malaria Councils and Funds, as well as learn best practices from other African countries.

View End Malaria Council toolkit