"Gender, Conflict and Malaria in selected African countries" Project
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On several occasions, States have outlined their commitment to combat Malaria and other diseases. The need to halt and begin to reverse the incidence of Malaria and other major diseases is highlighted as a major target of Goal 6 of the Millennium Development Goals. This goal was reaffirmed recently by the participants of the International Colloquium on Women's Empowerment, Leadership Development, International Peace and Security, who called for urgent investment to support young people in the achievement of the MDGs.
The States' commitment was also reinforced at a regional level, where they agreed in the Solemn Declaration on Gender Equality in Africa in 2004, to implement both the Abuja and Maputo Declarations on Malaria.
More specifically, they consent to accelerate the implementation of gender specific economic, social, and legal measures by ensuring that treatment and social services are available to women at the local level. To make it more responsive to the needs of families that are providing care, the governments have to increase budgetary allocations in these sectors.
They also resolve that at least 60% of those suffering from Malaria would have prompt access to correct, affordable and appropriate treatments.
Malaria is both a preventable and curable disease. It is especially a serious problem in Africa, where one in every five (20%) childhood deaths is due to the effects of the disease. An African child has on average between 1.6 and 5.4 episodes of Malaria fever each year and every 30 seconds a child dies from it. It has been demonstrated that in most endemic areas pregnant women and their unborn children are particularly vulnerable to Malaria, which is a major cause of perinatal mortality, low birth weight and maternal anaemia. It is responsible for about one third of preventable low birth weight babies and contributes to the deaths of an estimated 10 000 pregnant women and up to 200 000 infants each year in Africa.
The World Health Organization (WHO) notes that early diagnosis and prompt treatment are two basic elements of Malaria control. It draws the attention to the need of early and effective treatment of Malaria to shorten the duration of the infection and prevent further complications including the great majority of deaths. In this regard, WHO recommends intervention to control Malaria in adopting and implementing aggressive programmes of prevention and treatment.
There is thus the need to make a case for integrating gender perspectives into every level of Malaria control - policy, research and implementation - with special attention to complex emergencies.
The 2nd partnership of FAS with RBM project aspires to a stronger voice in advocating African women's right for a healthy life as well as women's right to an increased access to information, decision-making power and financial resources for effective disease prevention and treatment.
The project is built upon FAS experience in post conflict countries.
The African network, the Gender is My Agenda Campaign "GIMAC" is working in the area of health, reproductive health and Malaria, and campaigning for the implementation of the Solemn Declaration on Gender Equality in Africa.
This partnership between FAS and RBM will raise awareness on Gender, Conflict and Malaria, building a competent critical mass of supporters to ensure general ownership and future sustainability of gender analysis in Malaria control programmes in complex emergencies. Finally, it goes to sensitize decision makers in order to mainstream gender into Malaria policies and create an enabling environment to respond appropriately to community concerns, especially in conflict and post-conflict situation.
Following the largest world conference on Malaria in Cameroon in November 2005, attended by African and international leaders and experts, the Roll Back Malaria partners were challenged to look at Malaria from a gender perspective.
A first one-year partnership project on Gender and Malaria, Raising Women's Voices on Malaria, was put in place from November 2005 - November 2006. This project, funded by the Swedish International Development Agency, was a collaboration between RBM, FAS, Kvinnoforum and Multilateral Initiative on Malaria (MIM). The aim of this project was to ensure that all the actors working on this problem at global, regional and national level recognize Malaria as a gender issue and include it in their agendas.
In 2006, Roll Back Malaria, together with FAS amongst other partners, aware of gender and social inequalities on the global Malaria, decided to take actions. The Global Gender and Malaria Network was established and the "Guide to Gender and Malaria Resources" developed.
In 2008, a further one-year partnership project has been planned, Gender, Conflict and Malaria in selected African countries. With this programme FAS capitalizes on the achievements accomplished so far strengthening The Global Gender and Malaria Network, especially aiming to reinforce the focus on the African context. The activities focus on six African countries: Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Liberia, Mali, Rwanda and Sierra Leone.
The principal activities concerning the project are: a Mapping mission, a High Level Advocacy Mission and an Expert Panel.
Furthermore, the three activities have their focal point on a Communication action that has the task to increase the awareness at all level on Gender, Conflict and Malaria, to promote gender mainstreaming in the global Malaria response and to facilitate the integration of Malaria into the agendas of gender networks in Africa. This action is carried on through the creation of a webpage where people are informed, through a Communication and Advocacy package and Roll Back Malaria guidelines that are given to all members and to potential organizations in the selected countries.
The Mapping task aims to collect potential organizations and FAS members in the chosen countries to reinforce the "Global Gender and Malaria Network". In particular, it identifies four levels of stakeholders inside each of the countries, from the Ministers, such as the Minister of Gender, Family, Health and Education, to the First Ladies, the CSOs and the UN agencies. The Mapping mission has the important role to create an effective participation and an efficient coordination of the network's activities.
The purpose of the High Level Advocacy Mission is to sensitize decision makers in order to mainstream gender into Malaria policies and create an enabling environment so that they can respond appropriately to community concerns. Through missions and visits in the six selected countries of Dr. Awa Marie Coll-Seck, Executive Director of Roll Back Malaria, and Ms. Diop, FAS Executive Director, the High Level Advocacy foresees to empower CSOs with information on Malaria, including a gender perspective, thereby strengthening their ownership of Malaria control programmes especially in conflict situation and building their competency as agents and advocates of change. In each country, a strong political will and outreach for the implementation of the gender agenda are needed and also, existing national strategies to address the gender problematic, especially in Malaria control programmes, require to be reinforced.
Finally, the Expert Panel aspires to take advantages from FAS meetings on Roll Back Malaria and it represents a chance to investigate and develop the relationship between Gender, Malaria and Conflict. It is an occasion in which Roll Back Malaria experts, independent researchers and Network members discuss key issue regarding gender analysis in Malaria control programmer during complex emergencies, operational aspects, advocacy and fundraising.
Roll Back Malaria is the main partner, both in terms of financial and implementation. The project also aims to interest other funding partners as Governments, Development Agencies, International Institutions, Foundations, Private Sector, etc.
