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Despite recent progress, a child dies from malaria ever minute. Sickness from malaria and caring responsibilities keeps many – especially women and adolescent girls - from steady work or attending school. Malaria is preventing futures and economies from reaching full potential. Global leaders must now commit more action, innovation, and funding to #endmalaria.

Join the youth of today and sign this letter to help influence leaders to come together at the Global Fund’s Seventh Replenishment in September to achieve the target of at least US$18 billion for the fight against AIDS, TB and malaria and save 20 million lives.

 

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An open letter to world leaders

12th August 2022

Excellencies

As you will recall, the African Continent did not achieve the goal of reducing malaria cases and mortality by 40% by 2020 – a key milestone to eliminating malaria in Africa by 2030. According to estimates from the World Health Organization World Malaria Report 2021, 95% of global malaria cases and 96% of malaria deaths occur in Africa. In 2020 alone, over 600,000 Africans died from this preventable and treatable disease, of which 80% were children under 5. Meanwhile, the COVID-19 pandemic has imposed an incredible strain on our health systems and economies across the continent.

But ending malaria is an achievable goal if we take decisive action. Between 2000 and 2020, 10.6 million lives were saved and 1.7 billion malaria cases were prevented globally due to political will, innovative financing, the scaling up of main malaria interventions, and new interventions. However, malaria progress has stalled in the last two years due to biological challenges including insecticide and drug resistance, limited funding for the global malaria response, and the impact of COVID-19. Now to help get us back on track, global leaders must come together in September to recommit again and achieve the Global Fund replenishment target of at least US$18 billion for the fight against AIDS, TB, and malaria.

As youth, we are concerned that malaria continues to plague our continent. A child dies from malaria every minute, but this is not the only mark it leaves behind. Sickness from malaria and the burden that women and girls continue to bear results in lost school hours and productivity in the workplace. The disease is stopping us, stopping our bright future and our economies from reaching our full potential and achieving the Africa we want.

Excellencies, this is the time to act. We, the African youth, are taking our future into our hands.

Seven in 10 Africans have not yet reached their 30 th birthday. Together, we have the power to change the course of our future to achieve a malaria-free world in line with the 2030 targets. That’s why we’re putting pressure on this International Youth Day by calling on you, our leaders and parents, for more sustained action, innovation, and funding to fight against malaria. A decrease in financing will be dire for the global malaria response, paving the way for a steep rise in malaria cases. You have the power to stop malaria in its tracks.

To sustain life-saving malaria and health services, we must recommit to keeping malaria high on national development agendas, tailor existing malaria interventions to the most affected people living in high malaria burden countries, and rapidly deploy new tools to address the growing threats of insecticide and drug resistance. We must also mobilise additional resources (especially from the domestic public and private sector), empower civil society and communities to act and strengthen data and evidence-based governance.

Over 25 countries across the continent have already declared “Zero Malaria Starts with Me”, joining the pan-African movement to accelerate action and end the deadly disease. But we need to keep going, and it is time now to fight for what counts and avoid backtracking. Making the right investments in malaria programmes, research, and innovation can save millions of lives and strengthen country health systems to respond to future threats and pandemics.

Malaria – we, the African youth, are too strong, smart, fierce, fast, and bold for you!

We are the generation to end malaria, and we will not stop fighting until we deliver the goal of ending this disease as an epidemic by 2030.

Our future depends on it.

Please accept excellencies the assurances of our highest consideration.

Signed,

RBM Youth

 

463 signatures have been received.