ASTMH 2014, Pedro Alonso: “The Global Technical Strategy Overview”

In collaboration with ASTMH, ImageAV & presenters, MESA brings you this webcast from the symposium ‘The Global Technical Strategy for Malaria & the Global Malaria Action Plan 2’.

Title: The Global Technical Strategy Overview

Abstract:

The WHO Global Malaria Program is coordinating the process to develop the Global Technical Strategy for Malaria (GTS) for which is aligned with the Roll Back Malaria (RBM) Partnership’s process to develop the next version of the Global Malaria Action Plan. Together, these complementary documents will articulate a single vision and set of goals for malaria in line with the timeframe of the Sustainable Development Goals. They will be jointly launched in 2015 after the GTS has been considered by the World Health Assembly and the GMAP 2 has been adopted by the RBM Board. The draft post-2015 malaria strategy provides a framework for countries and sub-national areas to develop tailored programs to sustain progress and accelerate towards malaria elimination. It emphasizes the need to scale up to universal coverage of the currently available core malaria interventions, and highlights the importance of using real-time data for decision-making to drive responses consistent with national or sub-national goals. The draft strategy identifies where innovative solutions will be essential to fully achieve the new set of milestones, and describes the financial implications of strategy implementation. The Global Malaria Action Plan 2 will use the Global Technical Strategy as a foundation and will provide guidance on how more than 500 RBM partners can help support endemic countries in a multi-sectoral approach to achieve their goals in malaria reduction and elimination. Progress in reducing malaria-related deaths is a key marker of success in achieving the Millennium Development Goals, and will continue to be a valuable indicator for the post-2015 development agenda, since the disease responds rapidly to positive interventions and resurges quickly in the event of negative changes such as funding gaps. Progress in reducing the burden of malaria also helps drive economic progress and social stability and vice-versa, but it is evident that malaria reduction and elimination cannot be achieved in isolation from other sectors and that reducing and eliminating malaria will significantly benefit other sectors. GMAP2 will look beyond health and engage all actors at global, regional and country levels.