The RBM/CRSPC held the Western and Central Africa National Malaria Programmes and Partners Annual Meeting in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire, from 20 - 23 November 2023. National Malaria Programmes from 21 countries in the Western and Central Africa attended alongside partners. The event combined in-person and virtual participation, with 144 attendees on-site and 57 joining virtually. Participants, representing countries, partners, governmental bodies, non-governmental organizations, civil societies, local partners, private sector, academia and international agencies, came together with a shared commitment to combat malaria.

During the event, discussions spanned a wide range of crucial topics, including the future direction of the RBM Partnership to End Malaria, updates on implementation support through the CRSPC in 2023, and country-specific updates on the status of Malaria Program Review and the revision of National Strategic Plans, updates from countries including achievements, challenges, and engaged in constructive discussions. This facilitated cross-border learning and the exchange of best practices.

The meeting also gave the opportunity to update countries on technical issues, including  the introduction of the malaria vaccine, new commodities and interventions in the pipeline, through plenary and breakout sessions. The final day featured breakout sessions that encouraged sub-regional perspectives and cross-border collaboration, particularly among the West African Health Organisation. Breakout sessions covered topics, such as Social and Behavior Change Communication tools, guidance on Sub-National Tailoring, and establishment of End Malaria Funds.

The participants also attended an orientation session on Equity, Human Rights, and Gender Equality with presentations on best practices by countries that started implementing the use of the Malaria Matchbox toolbox to identify barriers to malaria interventions.

The participants rated the meeting as high both from a technical and logistic perspective as can be seen below.

Outcomes of the meeting

• National Malaria Programmes and partners reviewed the status of implementation of country level malaria strategic and annual plans, identify major implementation bottlenecks, share best practices
• Countries presented their updated programmatic and financial gap analysis which will serve as tool for additional resource mobilization in 2024-2026
• Partners provided updated information on the latest malaria policy guidances and new developments in malaria
• National Malaria Programmes and partners oriented on the assessment of barriers to access malaria interventions (Equity, Human Rights, and Gender Equality) and the malaria matchbox toolkit, and best practices
•  Identified the implementation support needed by countries in 2024

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