First-ever World Malaria Day April 25

Friday, April 25, 2008, is the first-ever World Malaria Day, marking the global effort to control malaria and reduce the toll it takes on individuals, families, and economies in endemic regions. PATH is observing the day with a full week of activity that spans countries and continents. Please check back throughout the week for news and updates.

Staff from the Malaria Control and Evaluation Partnership in Africa (MACEPA) at PATH will be attending and documenting activities in Zambia, joining with our partners in celebrating successes and looking ahead to the next steps in stopping malaria. We’ll be reporting on the activities—including through a special edition of our electronic MACEPA News and a diary containing stories, photos, and video footage from Zambia—all collected by MACEPA advocacy officer Todd Jennings.

• Get the latest from Todd; read his daily diary on this site.
• Todd is also contributing to the ONE Campaign blog.
• Watch the I Will video, which describes the commitment to stopping malaria in Zambia.
• Find out more about PATH’s work in malaria.

Staff from the PATH Malaria Vaccine Initiative (MVI) will observe World Malaria Day in Malawi at a meeting on the state of malaria vaccine development worldwide. Malawi’s Ministry of Health, the University of North Carolina Project, the World Health Organization, and other partners will attend.

In Bonn, Germany, MVI director Christian Loucq, MD, will speak on “New Tools and Partnerships for Research and Development” at an international conference on malaria, organized by Stop Malaria Now! and the European Alliance Against Malaria.

In Kilifi, Kenya, MVI technical staff Barbara Savarese and Preeti Vansadia will attend the opening of a lab facility funded in part by PATH. The opening will be part of a public observance of World Malaria Day by the KEMRI Wellcome Trust research site in Kilifi.

• Read more about the PATH Malaria Vaccine Initiative and get the latest information about this team’s World Malaria Day activities at www.malariavaccine.org.
• Find out more about PATH’s work in malaria.

On Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, PATH is cosponsoring a panel discussion on the next frontier in malaria prevention and treatment and malaria control with the Global Health Council and the Johns Hopkins University Voices Project. Expert panelists will discuss innovations and challenges in some of the field’s most pivotal areas, including research and development, the strengthening of health systems, and methods for high-burden countries.

The theme of this year’s World Malaria Day (formerly Africa Malaria Day) is “a disease without borders,” to reflect that malaria affects every one of us. Malaria compounds poverty, destabilizes countries, slows development, affects global security, and impacts trade. The theme also suggests the need for global collaboration to raise awareness about malaria and promote sharing of lessons learned and best practices.

For more about World Malaria Day, visit the Roll Back Malaria website.

Posted April 21, 2008.