African parliamentarians from 16 countries came together in Accra, Ghana from April 28 to 29 to officially launch the Coalition of Parliamentarians for the Elimination of Malaria in Africa (COPEMA). This gathering followed a ministerial conference in Yaoundé and focused on the increasing challenges facing the fight against malaria, including dwindling international aid, rising insecticide and drug resistance, and funding gaps threatening progress in malaria control.
During the 48-hour session, African parliamentarians agreed on strategies to strengthen the fight against malaria, a disease responsible for over half of global mortality cases. These strategies include emphasizing political leadership to mobilize national resources, leveraging new innovations in malaria prevention, and ensuring interventions are contextually appropriate, data-driven, and equitably implemented. The launch of COPEMA signified a concrete political movement, according to Ugandan MP Santa Okot, co-chair of COPEMA, and Cameroonian MP Njume Peter, co-chair of COPEMA.
The parliamentarians expressed their commitment to holding their governments accountable and prioritizing malaria control funding in national budgets. They also pledged to collaborate closely with national malaria control programs and civil society to increase funding for malaria control in Africa. At the end of the forum, parliamentarians from 16 African countries adopted the Accra Parliamentary Declaration, a unified call to action for increased national funding, strengthened accountability mechanisms, and enhanced collaboration with national malaria control programs and civil society. The declaration urged governments to urgently integrate malaria control funding into national budgets, emphasizing the need for targeted, locally adapted strategies to ensure high-impact interventions reach the most affected communities.
