VOICES for a Malaria-Free Future

Partnership is a key strategy in this effort to increase malaria awareness on the part of as many groups as possible and to help facilitate close collaboration and coordination - thereby raising the volume on the need for more malaria funding and effective policy. CCP and its own partners work to build and sustain relationships with donor country leaders, policymakers, opinion leaders, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (GFATM), multilateral funding agencies, the Roll Back Malaria Partnership (RBM), global health advocates, existing malaria stakeholders, the private sector, the faith-based community, the research and development community, and the media. Advocacy efforts bring developing country spokespersons to the global stage to help make malaria a priority for opinion leaders, policymakers, and the media. VOICES advocacy promotes proven control strategies and increased research and development by using data to identify barriers and inform strategic approaches to advocacy.

Specific tools were used at the early stages of the campaign to inform and bring these groups together for action, including press releases and networking, but have expanded into awareness raising and advocacy tools (fact sheets, technical briefs, media and press kits, etc.) and trainings (training for journalists on malaria, as well as media training for spokespeople who are championing malaria on the global stage). Country field offices develop specialised approaches aimed at strengthening their respective leaders' commitment to addressing barriers. In addition, VOICES produces and disseminates materials based on lessons learned, successes, and case studies from developing country activities to enhance ongoing advocacy efforts and encourage new malaria advocates. Click here to access the VOICES for a Malaria-Free Future website.

Malaria, Child & Maternal Health, Overseas Development Aid, Community Empowerment, Transparency.

CCP contends that, with increased attention directed toward malaria under the Global Fund, Roll Back Malaria and the President's Malaria Initiative, this is an opportune time to advocate for effective use of funds - to make sure that resources that are promised reach the people for whom they are intended. Recent increases in dedicated funding are creating a wave of momentum to limit malaria's impact through insecticide-treated nets (ITNs), new combination therapies (ACTs), indoor residual spraying (IRS), intermittent preventive treatment (IPT) for pregnant women and infants, and vaccine research. According to CCP, while progress is being achieved and measured, many policymakers and opinion leaders are not fully aware of this progress. Voices for a Malaria-Free Future is an attempt to remedy that lack of knowledge, as well as to inform stakeholders about the importance of taking action to reduce policy barriers that prevent malaria control strategies from being properly implemented (an essential strategy for securing increased funding, according to CCP).