Global Malaria Strategy

The development of the United Nation’s Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) 2000-2015 galvanised action and investment to help bring malaria mortality rates down by approximately half over this period, meaning millions of malaria deaths were averted. However, since 2015 progress to continue the trend in declining malaria cases and deaths has stalled and has begun instead to move in the wrong direction. 

In 2020, there were approximately 241 million people living with malaria and an estimated 627,000 deaths globally from the disease – many of them children under five – the highest figure in nearly a decade. These figures, taken from the World Health Organization’s 2021 World Malaria Report, are part of the bigger picture that shows how far off track the global community is from meeting the target of a global reduction of at least 90 percent in malaria case incidence and mortality rates by 2030. At the same time, the funding gap needed to meet this target also continues to widen, with an estimated US$10.3 billion needed in 2030 if current trends continue.

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Global Goals for Sustainable Development

The Global Goals for Sustainable Development (SDGs), launched in 2015 as a follow up to the MDGs, outlined a set of goals for the improvement of healthcare around the world, with two core strategies guiding malaria control and elimination efforts – the World Health Organization’s Global Technical Strategy for Malaria and Roll Back Malaria’s Action and Investment to Defeat Malaria.

  • Global Technical Strategy for Malaria

     

    The World Health Organization’s Global Technical Strategy for Malaria 2016-2030 was adopted by the World Health Assembly member states (WHA) in May 2015 and set the ambitious new target of reducing the global malaria burden by 90 percent by 2030. The strategy provides comprehensive technical guidance to countries and development partners for a 15-year period to accelerate progress towards malaria elimination. 

    In May 2021, an updated version was endorsed by the WHA member states reflecting on lessons learned in the global malaria response over the last five years. 

    It also highlights the urgent need to increase investments across all interventions – including preventive measures, diagnostic testing, treatment and disease surveillance – as well as in harnessing innovation and expanding research. WHO Member States, in endorsing the strategy have also agreed to strengthen health systems, address emerging multi-drug and insecticide resistance, and intensify national, cross-border and regional efforts to scale up malaria responses to protect everyone at risk.  

    It comprises three main pillars: 

    • Ensure access to malaria prevention, diagnosis and treatment as part of Universal Health Coverage  
    • Accelerate efforts towards elimination and attainment of malaria-free status 
    • Transform malaria surveillance into a key intervention

     And has two supporting pillars of: 

    • Harnessing innovation and expanding research 
    • Strengthening the enabling environment for sustainable and equitable results 

     

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  • Action and Investment to Defeat Malaria

     

    Developed by the Roll Back Malaria Partnership (RBM), the Action and Investment to defeat Malaria 2016-2030 (AIM) – for a malaria-free world was developed as a follow up to the first Global Malaria Action Plan (GMAP) and in coordination with WHO’s Global Technical Strategy, both sharing the 2016-2030 timeline of the SDGs. 

    GMAP was a valuable advocacy tool that provided the malaria community with a roadmap for progress, and an evidence-based strategy for delivering effective prevention and treatment. It also provided estimates of the annual funding required to reach the global targets of universal coverage through preventive interventions and universal access to effective treatment. AIM, as its successor, advocates for investment in malaria as a ‘best buy’ for development and illustrates how reducing and eliminating malaria creates healthier, more equitable and prosperous societies. It also helps guide financing of malaria elimination activities through the RBM partnership, which includes governments, non-governmental organisations, foundations, private sector and civil society.

     

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How Malaria Consortium is working towards strategies to end malaria

We are committed to drawing from these two strategies, using our expertise to complement key areas through our work to strengthen health systems and approaches to malaria control in Africa and Asia.

  • Ensuring access to malaria prevention, diagnosis and treatment to achieve Universal Health Coverage

     

    We’re committed to ensuring access to and proper use of effective malaria interventions, including long lasting insecticide treated nets (LLINs) in areas where they are needed most. In the Sahel region where seasonal rain brings greater malaria incidence, we make sure that vulnerable children are protected with seasonal malaria chemoprevention, an innovative approach that provides preventive treatments for all under-fives regardless of disease status. We train community health workers to be able to effectively diagnose and treat malaria and other communicable diseases within the community and strengthen health systems.  

  • Accelerating burden reduction towards elimination and attainment of malaria-free status

     

    Our engagement in the elimination of malaria is driven by three major objectives: to push for Plasmodium falciparum elimination in areas of artemisinin resistance; to establish better surveillance systems and capacity to provide information needed for elimination; and to advocate for continued high quality, intense and targeted efforts against malaria, even when the burden declines. We support the strategy on achieving global malaria eradication which entails working in all malaria-endemic areas, due to the possibility that malaria could become re-established. We are looking at how practical elimination in Asia and parts of Africa can be achieved.

     

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  • Transforming malaria surveillance as a core intervention

     

    To accelerate the reduction of the malaria burden, a functional and responsive surveillance system is needed to identify bottlenecks and target interventions more efficiently. Our approach to gathering evidence for decision-making consists of combining core health-related data – together with high quality information from monitoring and surveillance systems – through a robust (impact) evaluation platform. We ensure the quality and effectiveness of SME activities through leadership and guidance in the following functional areas: quality assurance, technical support, and capacity development.

     

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  • Working with networks and partners

     

    We are active in national programmes and technical networks, helping to influence policies with our learning, findings, and recommendations. We engage with national and regional partners around common goals, advocating for investment and disease burden reduction efforts and goals under SDG3. We support in-country capacity, operating within existing structures such as national technical working groups, promoting evidence uptake into national and global policies.

     

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  • Conducting innovative research

     

    Our practical expertise in all aspects of malaria control and elimination enables us to provide strong evidence for interventions we know work and allows us to confidently advocate for evidence uptake into national and global policies. Our quality implementation and operational research provides evidence for programme staff, ministries of health and partner organisations to make informed decisions to improve programme performance and quality of implementation.

     

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  • Creating digital solutions

     

    Digital health has a core role to play in the sustainable attainment of universal health coverage. Applying digital technology facilitates our ability to bring affordable, quality health services to those living in hard-to-reach areas, facilitating communities’, health workers’ and governments’ (real-time) access to health information and malaria data. By combining capacity development at the community level with the use of innovative tools and platforms, we are able to capture high-quality, timely and accurate data and target malaria interventions to where they are most needed.

     

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