APMEN hosts advocacy workshop for 5 Asia Pacific countries

In early December, the co-secretariats of the Asia Pacific Malaria Elimination Network (APMEN)—the University of Queensland and UCSF’s Global Health Group—hosted an advocacy workshop in Bangkok as part of ongoing efforts to strengthen national resource mobilization for malaria elimination. Teams representing Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Sri Lanka, and Thailand included diverse stakeholders from national malaria programs, departments of health promotion, private sector foundations and a Global Fund Country Coordinating Mechanism. Using the RBM Partnership’s Advocacy for Resource Mobilization Guide as a foundation for the training, the facilitators assisted countries in developing an advocacy strategy and work-plan. Many of the national advocacy objectives focused on increasing domestic financing for malaria elimination. Participants also highlighted the importance of sustained financing and political commitment for malaria elimination, particularly as their countries rally behind the Asia Pacific 2030 elimination goal that was recently announced at the East Asia Summit in November.