ABOUT THE SUMMIT

The Government of Papua New Guinea, in partnership with the Asia Pacific Leaders Malaria Alliance, will host the 8th Asia Pacific Leaders’ Summit on Malaria Elimination on June 6-7, 2024 at Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea.

This high-level event is a convening of Ministers, Senior Government Officials, local, national, and global leaders united under the theme ‘invest to achieve zero malaria.’ Occurring for the first time in Melanesia, the Leaders’ Summit will, over the course of two days, focus on sustaining financing, engaging communities, and committing to the 2030 elimination goal. The first day will focus on high-level political commitments to malaria elimination followed by a second day of partner meetings and technical discussions.

KEY MESSAGES

• Sustaining financing for returns on improved health, well-being, livelihoods and productivity of all citizens.
• Engaging Communities to localisze activities, reach the unreached, and build resilience in the face of diverse challenges.
• Committing to the 2030 Goal of eliminating malaria by uniting leaders in government, civil society, and private sector towards action.

Sustaining financing

• The Asia Pacific region has witnessed remarkable progress in the fight against malaria. However, despite the progress, malaria remains a significant public health threat in the Asia Pacific. Pockets of high transmission persist, particularly in remote areas of Indonesia and Melanesia countries.
• There is an increasing need for countries in Asia -Pacific to increase their domestic contribution/funding to health and sustainably take charge of its their own health systems and build stronger, more integrated response systems against infectious diseases.
• Papua New Guinea (PNG) and Solomon Islands have witnessed an 80% surge in malaria cases over the last five years. PNG alone accounts for 90% of the region's cases and deaths, with almost a million malaria cases in 2022, making it the leading cause of death and significantly impacting its socio-economic prospects.
• Vanuatu's fight against malaria faced setbacks in 2023 due to COVID-19, cyclones, and limited access to remote areas. Cases rose from 322 in 2021 to 1,995 in 2023, rendering its earlier goal of malaria elimination by 2023 unreachable and prompting a new target of 2026 and WHO certification by 2029.
• While Indonesia has made progress in bringing its malaria burden down, significant malaria burden continues to be concentrated in the islands of Eastern Indonesia. The provinces of Papua and West Papua account for nearly 94% of total malaria cases while representing only 2% of Indonesia’s population.
• Timor-Leste has managed to maintain three years of zero indigenous malaria cases since 2021, however, it remains critical to sustain in-country efforts and cross-border collaborations to prevent re-establishment, specifically with regards to importation from border areas where malaria transmission remains active.
• Pacific Island nations face a significant burden of vector-borne diseases (VBDs) like malaria, dengue, lymphatic filariasis (LF), and Zika. These diseases cause high morbidity and mortality, threatening regional health security. Targeting common vectors, like Anopheles mosquitoes for both malaria and LF, can improve efficiency and maximize resources.
• Melanesian health systems lack effective surveillance, testing, treatment capacity at primary care facilities, and robust program management at sub-national / provincial levels. Integrated joint strategies for surveillance, vector control, and community engagement across multiple VBDs could significantly reduce VBD burden, saving lives and improving health outcomes.
• Despite the potential that integrated approaches hold, the funding gap for malaria continues to widen. In 2020, US$3.3 billion was invested globally in malaria control and elimination against a target of US$6.8 billion. To reach global malaria targets, annual investments will need to triple by 2030 – to US$10.3 billion per year.
• While many countries stepped up to pledge US$15.7 billion to the Global Fund’s Seventh Replenishment last year, this fella far short of the US$18 billion needed to accelerate the fight against malaria, HIV and TB in order to achieve global targets.
• To achieve sustained elimination, increased domestic investment in healthcare systems is crucial. Innovative financing solutions exist and are urgently needed: (1) Blended Financing: Leveraging public and philanthropic capital to attract private sector investment in sustainable development, (2) Integrated Programs: Combining malaria elimination efforts with broader public health initiatives for primary care, NTDs and other communicable diseases, maximizing resource utilization and efficiency, (3) Green Climate Fund (GCF): Leveraging GCF – a critical element of the historic Paris Agreement - as the world’s largest climate fund, mandated to support developing countries raise and realize their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) ambitions towards low-emissions, climate-resilient pathways.
• Commitment from Ministries of Finances, along with other national and subnational authorities for sustained funding for malaria response and service delivery, to establish synergy with broader health systems funding, are critical to create programmatic efficiency and financial sustainability for malaria programmes.
• Ministers of Health from Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Timor-Leste, and Vanuatu will sign a Call to Action on the Eliminating Malaria and other Vector Borne Diseases Through Enhanced Regional Partnerships (EDEN) Initiative as a concrete first step. The EDEN Initiative aims to utilise integrated approaches to address the control and elimination of malaria and relevant vector-borne diseases (VBDs) in these 5 countries.
• The EDEN Initiative aims to be a regional support system for malaria control and elimination. It would strengthen data sharing, collaboration, and technical expertise across the region. This initiative would also facilitate the development of new tools and explore innovative funding solutions to support regional elimination efforts.
• Next steps involve in-depth consultations with countries to assess their specific needs for programs, capacity building, and resources. This will inform a detailed work plan with timelines and funding for activities.

Engaging Communities

• Papua New Guinea faces a significant malaria burden, with over a million malaria cases reported annually, making it the leading cause of death, and significantly impacting its socio-economic prospect. With 94% of PNG's population still at high risk of contracting malaria, there is an urgent need to double down efforts to end malaria. The PNG Governors Ending Malaria (GEM) Coalition is hereby established to champion the fight against malaria and lead collective efforts to achieve elimination in PNG. This collaborative effort aims to leverage the unique strengths of each province and address local challenges more effectively.
• Since malaria disproportionately affects remote areas with limited access to healthcare facilities, scaled-up community health worker programs are proving to be a game-changer. These dedicated individuals serve as the eyes and ears on the ground in remote areas, playing a critical role not just in malaria prevention and treatment, but also in screening for COVID-19 and promoting its prevention and containment in rural settings.
• Individuals living in malaria-endemic regions have a crucial role to play. By utilising local potential, we can develop community empowerment strategies tailored to the situation locally. One of the key interventions is the training of malaria cadres in areas with difficult access, remote areas, and areas with special populations.
• When it comes to eliminating malaria, empowering remote communities for building self-sufficiency and driving positive behavior change is a significant step to take. This can be achieved by enhancing their knowledge, awareness, and capacity to identify, plan, and solve problems.

Committing to 2030 goal

• Papua New Guinea has a National Malaria Strategic Plan (2021-2025) that aims to reduce malaria burden by 63% and malaria mortality by 90% by 2025, along the way to elimination by 2030.
• We reviewed the significant strides made in regional malaria elimination efforts, as well as the emerging challenges and the evolving landscape of the disease. We expressed concern over the surging malaria cases in 2022, which doubled in number for the first time in a decade and knocked Asia Pacific off-track on its 2030 elimination goal. Strengthening regional collaboration remains critical in improving the programmatic effectiveness and efficiency, technical capacity building and financial resource needs in countries.
• As we focus on our 2030 malaria elimination goal, all stakeholders must to find creative ways to synergise both malaria and pandemic- related interventions, such as programs to improve surveillance, data, and public health management, particularly where systems and the communities they serve are most vulnerable.
• Recognising the importance of regional efforts in accelerating countries’ progress and ensuring sustained commitment towards the goal of eliminating malaria. Stakeholders must be committed to collaborating regionally to align key priorities and investments for malaria elimination in the Melanesia region, and to supporting malaria-specific policies, programmes and resource mobilization across the entire Asia Pacific. 

Hastags

These are the primary hashtags to be used and included in all communication outputs, posts, and content:

• #MalariaLeaders2024​
• #ZeroMalaria​
• #EndMalaria

Primary account handles to mention:

• @APLMA_Malaria​
• @EndMalaria​
• @WHOWPRO​
• @RawcsA
• @GLIDE_AE
• @GlobalFund

County Malaria Factsheets