WORLD MALARIA DAY 2024: Gender, Equity & Human Rights: Bringing the Yaoundé Ministerial Declaration and UCMB/NOVARTIS HSS Partnership to life
Today April 25th 2024 is World Malaria Day.
This is an annual observance to call attention to the worldwide fight against malaria and look back on developments from the past year.
This year, the malaria community picked the theme of ‘Gender, Equity and Human Rights’ highlighting the disproportionate effect that the malaria endemic has on women and girls, as carers, healthcare workers and as patients burdened by the disease. The day brings global attention to the efforts being made to bring an end to malaria and encourage action to reduce suffering and death from the disease.
Why the Theme?
- Pregnancy reduces a woman’s immunity to malaria, making her more susceptible to infection and increasing her risk of severe disease and death.
- Gender inequalities, discrimination and harmful gender norms heighten her risk of contracting the disease. If untreated, malaria in pregnancy can cause severe anaemia, maternal death, stillbirth, premature delivery, and low-birth weight babies.
- Infants and young children continue to suffer the greatest mortality; in 2022, an estimated 4 out of 5 malaria-related deaths in the African Region were among children under 5 years of age.
- Even in cases where they are not the ones infected by the parasite, women are often burdened by the duty of staying home to care for family members who suffer from malaria, causing them to miss out on work and school, which furthers the educational and financial effect gap between genders.
For these reasons, it is evident that the eradication of malaria will not only have a positive effect on the healthcare landscape across Uganda but will also impact the daily lives, education and economic prospects of many Uganda women and girls.The WHO African Region shoulders the heaviest burden of the disease – accounting, in 2022, for 94% and 95% of malaria case and deaths. Rural populations in the African region living in situations of poverty and with less access to education are the most impacted.
In view of the current trajectory, critical 2025 milestones of the WHO global malaria strategy for reductions in malaria cases and deaths will be missed.
In March 2024, Ministers of Health from countries that carry the highest burden of malaria signed the Yaoundé Declaration pledging to accelerate malaria mortality reductions in their respective countries. Equity in access to services is a central tenet of the Declaration. In signing the declaration, the Ministers pledged to “sustainably and equitably” address the malaria challenge. (download full document)
It is in this spirit that the UCMB in partnership with NOVARTIS Inc., is committed to support and facilitate key milestone achievements in Malaria morbidity & mortality reduction in your respective Hospitals—through 3 major strategic objectives. The partnership will support a) CAPACITY BUILDING and TRAINING OF HEALTHCARE WORKERS and b) DISEASE AWARENESS and EDUCATION—includes health education and health promotion activities in your hospitals.
