Zero Malaria Campaign Coalition seeks to end disease

'Many children are just one mosquito bite away from death and that is a moral outrage, it is a profound injustice. It is literally a matter of life and death and now together we must act! Anonymous’

A deadly disease is stealing young futures in Africa and claiming the life of a child every 60 seconds – that is 1300 children dying every day.

Malaria continues to be a significant public health problem in Kenya. The entire population of Kenya is at risk from malaria, including those most vulnerable to the disease, specifically children and pregnant women.

Malaria not only impacts on health but has a crippling socio-economic impact. Every day, malaria hits the very poorest communities hardest. It keeps kids out of school, adults out of work, and communities stuck in a cycle of poverty they can’t escape.  Despite the challenges, this is one fight we can win. Malaria is preventable and treatable, we have more tools now than ever before to prevent, diagnose and treat it.

Enormous strides

Kenya has made enormous strides in the fight against malaria thanks to concerted national efforts by government, partners and communities; shrinking the malaria map, reducing deaths by 2 per cent and saving millions of lives.

The global fight against malaria national malaria fight is becoming the biggest public health success story in history and fighting against  malaria is ranked as one of the most cost-effective global health interventions and Kenya is determined to maintain momentum in spite of the effects of Covid-19.

The pandemic has pushed global health to the forefront of the international agenda, underlining the need to build strong national health systems capable of protecting citizens from infectious diseases and delivering healthy lives.

With this in mind, the Zero Malaria Campaign Coalition (ZMCC) initiative is being launched through a multi sectoral collaboration under the leadership of the Division of the National Malaria Programme (DNMP), the aim is   to foster partnerships within both the public and private sector to amplify the work of the malaria community, increasing awareness of the negative impact of malaria within society and driving forward the goal of malaria eradication.

The ZMCC’s agenda is linked to the recommendations from the mid-term review of the Division of National Malaria Program (DNMP), situated within the Ministry of Health, which includes leveraging existing campaign structures to create a coalition that coordinates and elevates advocacy efforts and communications initiatives to increase political will towards malaria elimination.

The campaign coalition will particularly focus on bringing together diverse partners from across the creative industry and talent and influencers, alongside the malaria community, to create communications that shape public perception of malaria as a deadly disease that can and should be beaten. 

‘The coalition has the very real and historic opportunity of bringing stakeholders together to make malaria no more. An amazing legacy for every generation to come. The aim is to reduce malaria deaths by 75 per cent of 2016 levels by 2023 and end malaria once and for all in our lifetimes.

Lilies Njanga, Africa Director, Malaria No More says: “We believe this will, in turn, influence political prioritisation and support the work of malaria implementing organisations driving behaviour-change on the ground.”

Personal fight

The seventh replenishment of the Global Fund with a target of at least Sh18 billion, marks 2022 as a significant year for ending malaria and the stakes are high.

Governments, decision makers, business leaders, philanthropists and innovators need to work together to seize this opportune time, drive urgency and remain focused on the goal to win the battle against malaria.

For every Kenyan, this should be a personal fight and together we can end malaria for good and ensure Kenya is malaria-free.

The Zero Malaria Starts With Me campaign has the opportunity to influence and impact key global, regional and national issues which will help save and protect millions of lives of children across Africa and take us closer to reach zero malaria by 2030.

We can’t take our foot off the pedal now. The Zero Malaria Campaign Coalition is determined to elevate malaria on the national health agenda, and to seize this unprecedented opportunity to end one of the world’s oldest and deadliest diseases in our lifetimes.

Ms Rosemary Mburu is Executive Director, WACI Health while Dr George Githuka is head of Malaria Division in Kenya’s Ministry of Health.