Three African Leaders Malaria Alliance (ALMA) Chairs Call for Integrated Response to COVID -19

[mzee wa mapesa]

Dar es Salaam Tuesday 12 May 2020.

Earlier today, three ALMA Chairs, His Excellency Uhuru Kenyatta, President of Kenya and Chair of ALMA, Her Excellency Ellen Johnson Sirleaf former President of Liberia and former ALMA Chair and His Excellency Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete of the United Republic of Tanzania issued a statement on behalf of the End Malaria Council calling for continued essential health services like malaria prevention and control while responding to the COVID 19 global pandemic. See quotations from the ALMA Chairs below:

• “I am committed to working with fellow heads of state and government on a coordinated and harmonized response to COVID-19 that stamps out this pandemic while continuing to provide essential health services to our citizens. Nothing is more important than protecting our women, children, and men from preventable and treatable diseases like malaria. These efforts will help us to sustain the significant gains that we have made driving down malaria cases and deaths over the past twenty years.” – H.E. Uhuru Kenyatta is the President of Kenya, the Chair of the African Leaders Malaria Alliance and a member of the End Malaria Council.

• “Prioritizing frontline health worker safety is a critical investment in the COVID-19 response that will provide short- and long-term benefits. Ensuring these health workers are equipped with the necessary protective equipment, diagnostics, and data tools will protect health workers and empower them to interrupt the virus while maintaining life-saving services against existing diseases like malaria.” – H.E. Ellen Johnson Sirleaf was President of Liberia during the Ebola outbreak in 2014 is the former Chair of the African Leaders Malaria Alliance. Currently, President Sirleaf is the World Health Organization’s Goodwill Ambassador for the Health Workforce and a member of the End Malaria Council.

• To fight COVID-19 effectively and ensure hard-won gains in malaria are not lost, African nations must strengthen essential regional partnerships to develop coordinated and collaborative approaches to support public health systems.” – H.E. Jakaya Kikwete, former President of the United Republic of Tanzania was the founding Chair of the African Leaders Malaria Alliance. Currently, President Kikwete is an ambassador and advocate for regional approaches to health and development on the African continent and a member of the End Malaria Council.