Published: 30 June 2022

The African Leaders Malaria Alliance congratulates Commonwealth leaders and the global community for sustained leadership and commitment to end malaria and NTDs. The Summit on Malaria and NTDs on 23 June 2022 came up with concrete commitments to fulfil the bold and ambitious targets of the African Union Catalytic Framework to End AIDS, TB and Eliminate Malaria in Africa by 2030 and the 2022 Kigali Declaration on Neglected Tropical Diseases, a high-level, political declaration which aims to mobilise political will and secure commitments to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals targets through increased country ownership of NTD programmes, integration and cross-sectoral collaboration to ensure long-term sustainability.

“With sustained political and financial commitment from Governments, the private sector, civil society and development partners we are on a firm path to end these diseases of poverty and achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. With over $4 billion in funding pledged as world leaders gathered in Kigali for this historic summit to renew commitments toward ending malaria and NTDs by 2030 we are confident that we have unprecedented partnerships, global solidarity and shared responsibility” said Joy Phumaphi, ALMA Executive Secretary.

ALMA is working with Governments across highly impacted countries to raise additional resources in the malaria and NTDs fight. 25 countries in Africa are in the process of establishing national End Malaria Councils and Funds to drive multisectoral support for the fight against malaria and in some cases NTDs. EMCs have mobilised millions of USD of financial and in-kind support for the fight against malaria in 2021 and 2022.

Some of the most influential voices in global health including world leaders, philanthropists, scientific experts, global experts, and community champions gathered at the Kigali Summit on Malaria and Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs) to make bold commitments to eliminate malaria and NTDs by 2030.

Endemic countries have done their part and are committed to the fight but given the low-income status of many of the most malaria affected countries, the fight cannot be won alone. It is critical that everyone demonstrates global solidarity in the fight and achieve the USD18 billion ask to fully replenish the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria. This will also contribute to strengthened health systems and  also assist in the fight against NTDs, as well as supporting pandemic preparedness and response.

The Kigali Summit represented a vital moment in the fight against Malaria and NTDs. Against the backdrop of disruptions of essential services and supply chains due to the covid-19 pandemic and plateauing of funding, rapidly increasing population and widespread biological challenges such as insecticide and drug resistance, the work to eliminate these diseases has stalled and even reversed in some countries.

Hosted by the Government of Rwanda and co-convened by the RBM Partnership to End Malaria and Uniting to Combat NTDs, the high-level Summit – the first of its kind hosted in Africa – took place on the margins of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) and marked a key opportunity for world leaders to renew commitments and call for more significant investments to end malaria and NTDs, a group of 20 diseases, most commonly affecting some of the world’s most vulnerable people.

Leaders at the event included H.E. Paul Kagame, President of Rwanda, HRH The Prince of Wales, H.E. Mokgweetsi Masisi, President of Botswana, Hon. Dr Philip Isdor Mpango, Vice President of Tanzania, and Dr Osagie Ehanire, Nigeria’s Minister of Health. They were joined by Dr Tedros Ghebreyesus Adhanom, Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO), Melinda French Gates, Co-Chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and H.E. Amina Mohammed, Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations, in calling for global leaders to endorse the Kigali Declaration on Malaria and NTDs.

Malaria and NTDs affect the lives of billions, and incredible progress made over the last two decades proves that ending these diseases is possible. Since 2000, country leadership and global partnership have saved 10.6 million lives from malaria and prevented 1.7 billion cases.

46 countries have eliminated at least one NTD, with Rwanda eliminating Human African Trypanosomiasis, commonly known as sleeping sickness, earlier this year. 600 million people no longer require treatment for NTDs, and cases of some diseases that have plagued humanity for centuries, such as sleeping sickness and Guinea worm disease, are at an all-time low.