Published: 8 December 2022

Ahead of the African Union Summit taking place late February 2023, African Union Malaria Experts and partners met Tuesday through Wednesday to discuss the progress, challenges and future directions in eliminating malaria on the continent by 2030. The meeting was convened by the African Union Commission, the African Leaders Malaria Alliance and the RBM Partnership to End Malaria and was attended by country malaria control programme experts, the WHO, Regional Economic Communities, youth representatives and development partners.

Africa continues to bear the highest burden of malaria. According to the 2022 WHO World Malaria Report estimates 95% of all malaria cases (234 million cases) and 96% of all malaria deaths (593 000 deaths) in 2021 were in Africa. Of these nearly 80% of all malaria deaths were among children under the age of 5. Malaria disproportionately affects pregnant women and children under five.

The meeting experts reviewed some of the reasons for the stagnation in progress, and highlighted opportunities to help Africa get back on track.  Countries from across the continent shared their best practices in malaria control and elimination from 2022. These included experiences in distributing new commodities to address the threat of mosquito resistance to insecticides, resource mobilization to fill key gaps in malaria programme implementation, and the launch of End Malaria Councils and Funds to ensure malaria is maintained high on the development agenda.

The Report to be released February 2023 highlights key efforts that have been made so far to advocate, promote action and advance resource mobilisation and accountability, while providing key recommendation to fast-track malaria elimination.