President Uhuru Kenyatta has endorsed the appointment of two special envoys to help accelerate the fight against malaria on the African continent.
The Head of State who is the Chairman of the African Leaders Malaria Alliance (Alma) on Wednesday commissioned the special envoy nominees, Amb. Anthony Okara (Kenya) and Prof. Sheila Tlou (Botswana) during a virtual meeting convened to receive Alma's 2021 first and second quarter performance report.
The envoys will work with the continent's regional economic communities including the East African Community (EAC), Southern African Development Community (SADC), and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to prioritise the fight against malaria in their programming.
Uhuru received the report from Alma Executive Secretary Joy Phumaphi and went on to commend the organisation for the steps taken to ensure there is a digital malaria repository for Africa, stating that this will help countries share best practices in containing the disease.
"I congratulate the Alma secretariat for keeping the fire burning in the fight against malaria despite the challenges brought about by Covid-19 pandemic," he said.
The President also called for involvement of the youth in the fight against the tropical disease and called for establishment of a continental 'youth army' to boost anti-malaria efforts.
Health Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe and Alma’s senior advisor Dr Willis Akhwale were present during the meeting.
Uhuru expressed satisfaction that his agenda of digitization, adoption of country scorecards and the establishment of 15 multi-sectoral ‘End Malaria’ councils is on track.
The Alma scorecard for accountability and action tracks malaria as well as reproductive, maternal, newborn, child and adolescent health (RMNCAH) and neglected tropical diseases (NTD) indicators on the continent.
