NEW INNOVATION GRANTS BOOST MALARIA ADVOCACY EFFORTS IN AFRICA

London, 5/11/07. Malaria Consortium announced today three grants for malaria advocacy to civil society organisations covering twelve African countries. 

The Innovation Grants are part of Mobilising for Malaria, an advocacy programme supported by GlaxoSmithKline’s African Malaria Partnership. They aim to boost advocacy efforts to improve Africa-to-Africa accountability for response to malaria suffering on the continent as well inspire African civil society organisations and media to become “leaders” in the fight against malaria in Francophone and Anglophone African countries. 

The first grant has been awarded to Sega Africaware in Senegal* to organise a malaria music festival combined with advocacy activities with businesses, schools and personalities including politicians and artists. 

The second grant has been awarded to Action Family Foundation in Nigeria** for their project on expanding the involvement of civil society organisations in the Roll Back Malaria movement to achieve the Millennium Development Goals through advocacy, partnership and capacity enhancement. 

The third grant has been awarded to Réseau Sida Afrique/Azur Développement*** based in Congo which includes 215 institutional and individual members in 17 African francophone countries. The project aims to set up a media campaign and system of alert on malaria and the creation of a partnership between the press and member organisations of the Africa AIDS Network in 10 countries, Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, Central African Republic, Mali, Togo, Ivory Coast, Niger, Djibouti, Cameroon, and Benin.  

Sunil Mehra, Malaria Consortium’s Executive Director said: “Most malaria advocacy efforts and resources have so far been concentrated in the north. Through Mobilising for Malaria we aim to redress the imbalance and these new projects will foster new advocates and champions for malaria at local, national and regional levels in Africa. These projects and excellent new partners will further the Mobilising for Malaria advocacy efforts implemented through “Coalitions Against Malaria” in Cameroon, Ethiopia, Mozambique and Benin.”

Notes to Editor:

1.  Profiles of Malaria Advocacy Projects

* Sega Africaware’s project The main objectives of Sega Africaware’s project are to create a musical and media event which engages political authorities and African and non-African media personalities as “malaria champions”; and to mobilise corporate leaders and heads of schools and promote their active and permanent participation in raising awareness among their employees and their students. Key activities will include: a concert in Dakar with pre-recorded advocacy messages by artists broadcasted between acts and on TV, meetings with high level politicians, filming and production consciousness-raising advertisements with media personalities to be shown on various TV channels and a school competition. More info about the music festival available at www.music-ebene.com

** Action Family Foundation project: The project aims to engage private sector stakeholders and call for their active contribution and commitment to tackling malaria in Nigeria. Action Family Foundation will be working with key stakeholders including the Malaria Summit Group, the National Civil Society Coalition on Malaria, Immunization and Nutrition, the Human Rights Information Network and the Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Group of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (PMG-MAN).

*** Réseau Sida Afrique/Azur Développement project: The project will address the lack of articles or critical reports on malaria in the public and private media; strengthen the capacity of AIDS organisations to further a campaign strategy and mobilise resources for the battle against malaria; stimulate regular follow-up on the actions and commitments taken by the involved countries’ government on the battle against malaria; and generate accessible information on malaria to different parties involved such as the Parliamentarians and the private sector. More information about the partners is available at www.reseausida.org and www.azurdev.org

 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

2.  Background to the Programme

The Malaria Consortium is an international non-profit organisation dedicated to improving the control of malaria and communicable diseases, especially in Africa and Asia. More info at www.malariaconsortium.org 

Mobilising for Malaria is an advocacy programme working to raise awareness of malaria in Europe and throughout Africa to bring greater resources to bear against the disease. This programme recognises the unique role and urgently needed contribution of civil society in the global malaria advocacy movement. It seeks to promote ‘coalitions against malaria’ which encourage partnership working and collaboration between all civil society actors not only in their own countries but through North-South joint initiatives in order to increase public and political awareness and support for an effective and sustained response to Malaria at global, national and local levels. 

The GlaxoSmithKline African Malaria Partnership (AMP) was established in 2001 to support effective community-focused responses to improve the prevention and treatment of malaria in sub-Saharan Africa.