HE Minister of Foreign Affairs, African Integration and Ivorians Abroad of the Republic of Cote d’Ivoire Kacou Houadja Leon Adom met with HE Ambassador of the State of Qatar to Cote d’Ivoire Mubarak bin Hussein Al Marri in Abidjan.

During the meeting, the two sides discussed bilateral cooperation relations.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Ministry of Foreign Affairs of The State of Qatar.

During her trip to Angola, Administrator Samantha Power announced expanding partnerships that reflect the deepening relationship between the United States and Angola. 

At Angola’s Instituto Nacional de Investigação em Saúde (National Health Research Institute) Administrator Power announced that USAID-led U.S. President’s Malaria Initiative (PMI) is expanding geographic coverage for malaria prevention and control activities in Angola, to include the province of Moxico. This provides financial and technical assistance that enables the Government of the Republic of Angola to deploy life-saving interventions proven to fight malaria. Angola is highly vulnerable to malaria, and its prevalence is particularly high in Moxico, the country’s largest province. The expansion of PMI’s geographic coverage to Moxico comes with a strong commitment from the Government of the Republic of Angola to ensure that key gaps in malaria prevention and treatment are addressed in other areas of the country. PMI’s collaboration with Angola has contributed to a 29 percent reduction in deaths from malaria since 2020. 

Since 2006, PMI has invested $415 million in Angola, including the procurement and delivery of insecticide-treated nets as well as commodities used for malaria diagnosis and treatment, health worker training, and investments in entomological monitoring and supply chain management.

In Benguela, Administrator Power launched an expansion of the USAID project Women in Angolan Farming, a public-private partnership to strengthen livelihoods and increase food security in rural communities by empowering women to be leaders in the agricultural sector. Women in Angola Farming is currently active in six provinces in Angola, and the new funding will allow the program to expand into four additional provinces: Cuando Cubango, Benguela, Huambo, and Bié. Benguela, Huambo, and Bié provinces are part of the Lobito Corridor, an area being developed to connect the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Zambia to regional and global trade markets via railways to the Port of Lobito.

More than 20,000 women smallholder farmers will benefit from this project, not only by being able to increase their agricultural output, but also through increased access to national identity cards, birth certificates, bank and mobile money accounts, basic literacy, and land tenure, all of which are critical for wider and gender equitable rural development. 

Administrator Power also launched the start of a new partnership with the Ministry of Transport to increase private investment in infrastructure. The partnership will build capacity to replicate the success of the Lobito Atlantic Rail concession of December 2022 and the Lobito Port concession of March 2024, through additional open, transparent, and competitive procurements in infrastructure. 

The new partnership between the USAID and the Angolan Ministry of Transport supports the Government of Angola’s goal of facilitating similar procurements that can generate private investment in Angola’s infrastructure in Lobito and across the country, without having to rely on burdensome debt finance. These investments will create thousands of jobs and provide new economic opportunities for Angolans in the Corridor and beyond.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

£7.4 million funding from UK will make malaria drugs and tests accessible for countries around the world; over 50 million people will have access to the life-saving drugs and tests by 2027; UK-Indian developed vaccines being rolled out to Sierra Leone, Liberia and Benin.

The UK government will improve access to malaria drugs to help tackle one of the biggest killers of children in sub-Saharan Africa, it has been announced today (25 April).

More than 600,000 people worldwide die every year from malaria, which is preventable and treatable. The £7.4 million support for MedAccess will be used to negotiate lower prices for vital malaria drugs and diagnostic tests for people in countries affected by the disease.

The funding brings total UK support to MedAccess to £17.4 million, which will help 1 million people access new diagnostic tests and 120 million patients to receive anti-malarial treatments.

MedAccess guarantees sales volumes of drugs in markets where demand is uncertain so manufacturers can commit to affordable prices and stable supply. In return, manufacturers receive assurance that they will be paid even if the demand doesn’t materialise.

In 3 years, it is expected that more than 50 million people will have access to drugs and other items.

The announcement comes on the World Health Organisation’s World Malaria Day, which aims to keep the disease high on the political agenda, mobilise additional resources, and empower communities.

Deputy Foreign Secretary and Minister for Development and Africa, Andrew Mitchell, said:

“Thanks to British science, we now have life-saving malaria vaccines which will protect millions of people.”

“But we also need to make sure we are making drugs available at the best possible price to the countries that most need them. Deaths from malaria are entirely preventable and the UK’s support for MedAccess will ensure that countries can afford to offer people the best protection against the disease.”

It has also been announced that Sierra Leone, Liberia and Benin will begin their first roll out of the UK-Indian developed RTS,S vaccine, marking a significant milestone in ending malaria.

Collaboration between British scientists and Indian manufacturers resulted in 2 essential malaria vaccines being developed: RTS,S and R21. These have been used in Ghana, Kenya and Malawi, with 2 million children vaccinated since 2019, and in January, Cameroon became the first country to give the vaccines to children routinely.

A total of 22 countries are due to roll out the vaccine. Gavi, which is funded by the UK, is aiming to immunise more than 6 million children from malaria by the end of 2025.

UK funding helps MedAccess to reduce the costs of a range of innovative health products for HIV, TB and malaria, meaning that UK support for organisation like Gavi and the Global Fund will go further as they benefit from lower prices for products.

Chief Executive Officer for MedAccess, Michael Anderson, said:

“We are deeply grateful for FCDO’s continued support, which enables MedAccess to improve access to products for HIV, TB, and malaria in support of Global Fund programmes.”

“MedAccess will continue to use innovative financial tools to reduce the cost of diagnosis, prevention and treatment, improving value for money while improving patient access. We are glad to announce this renewed funding on World Malaria Day, an important moment for global stakeholders to come together with a common ambition to accelerate malaria prevention and control.”

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of United Kingdom Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office.

Malaria is a preventable and curable disease yet continues to claim hundreds of thousands of lives every year—mainly in sub-Saharan Africa. Discover how a Sierra Leone Red Cross Society volunteer helped save a baby boy from malaria, and how the IFRC is working to tackle the disease around the world.

Baindu Momoh is a mother from Gbaigibu in Kailahun district, eastern Sierra Leone. Her village is so small and remote it doesn’t show up on most maps—but that doesn’t stop the Sierra Leone Red Cross Society from looking out for the health of her community.

In October 2023, Baindu came rushing to her local Red Cross volunteer, Joseph. Something was deeply wrong. Her baby boy, Senesie, had a fever, was sweating and vomiting, and had a puffy face and eyes. Baindu feared for his life.

Thankfully, Joseph is part of the Community Epidemic and Pandemic Preparedness Programme (CP3) and is trained in how to detect, report, and respond to disease threats—meaning he knew exactly what to do.

“I have established strong relationships with both the health facility and the community. When the child’s mother reached out to me in distress, I immediately recognized the urgency of the situation,” explains Joseph.

In the absence of timely local ambulance services, Joseph rushed Baindu and her baby on his motorbike to the nearest Community Health Post in Woroma, where Senesie was diagnosed with severe malaria and anaemia. Baindu was told that, to survive, Senesie needed an urgent blood transfusion—only available at the Kailahun Government Hospital, some 30 miles away.

Without hesitation, Joseph offered to help, explaining:

“As a trained volunteer with a humanitarian organization, my community is my responsibility.”

But in this part of the world, getting to the hospital is easier said than done. 

On his motorbike, with Baindu and Senesie on the back, Joseph embarked on the long, bumpy road to Kailahun—carefully navigating the treacherous terrain and crossing rivers along the way. Thankfully, they arrived safely and Senesie was quickly treated by hospital staff. 

“Since I could help, I couldn’t let him die. So I made the decision to pay for the treatment because the parents couldn’t afford the cost,” explains Joseph.

Thanks to Joseph’s quick action and support, Senesie made a full recovery from malaria. After a week in hospital, Baindu and Senesie returned to their home in Gbaigibu. Joseph continues to check in on them to make sure they’re doing well.

“Joseph risked his life to save my son’s. Upon reaching the Kailahun Government Hospital, he paid for a blood transfusion that the medical practitioners had recommended. To me, Joseph is a true lifesaver who helped us in our time of need,” says Baindu.

Baindu isn’t the only person in Gbaigibu to be supported by Joseph. He regularly engages people in his community on how to prevent, detect, and respond to diseases—such as malaria, measles, and yellow fever—so they can stay healthy and safe.

Fomba Lamin, head of the Woroma Community Health Post, feels Joseph plays an invaluable role in encouraging village members to seek health support.

“We thank the CP3 programme, it is improving our referral rate. Community members we refer in the past did not go to Kailahun for obvious reasons: the means of transportation. But with people such as Joseph, who encourage our people to seek health care in Kailahun, we see the reduction of death in our community,” says Fomba.

Although malaria is preventable and treatable, the death toll from the disease remains high for children under 5 and pregnant women, particularly in remote and hard-to-reach communities. 

Key challenges to controlling malaria include a lack of reliable access to health services and prevention supplies, a decrease in global funding for malaria, and a widespread and increasing rise in insecticide resistance in malaria-endemic countries. 

Recent innovations, such as the approval from WHO of new insecticide-treated nets (ITNs) to address insecticide resistance and two new malaria vaccines for children, are positive steps to tackling the disease. 

Through programmes like CP3, the IFRC is supporting Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies worldwide to plan and deliver high-quality malaria prevention activities, such as:

Supporting ministries of health and their partners to plan and implement distribution of insecticide-treated bed nets through mass campaigns or continuous distribution channels. 
Administering preventive treatment to children as part of seasonal malaria chemoprevention campaigns.
Promoting individual preventive practices through social and behaviour change activities to encourage people to sleep under a bed net every night of the year, seek prompt and early healthcare in case of fever or malaria-related symptoms, and attend antenatal care for malaria prevention.

This story from Sierra Leone is a great example of how National Societies are supporting communities to prevent and seek treatment for malaria, encouraging them to implement practices that will protect them from the disease, and improving their access to health care—even in remote and isolated communities.

The IFRC also houses and chairs the Alliance for Malaria Prevention, a global partnership that supports ministries of health and their financial and implementing partners with the planning and implementation of ITN distribution, primarily through mass campaigns. ITNs remain the most effective tool to protect at-risk communities from malaria. 

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC).