…As TGLF, RBM amplify interventions  

By Sola Ogundipe
 
A partnership established to enhance the role of community health workers in the fight against malaria, known as “Teach to Reach 11”, will engage with community-based health workers, offering a platform to share real-world insights and best practices for combating malaria particularly in high burden countries like Nigeria.

In an announcement, The Geneva Learning Foundation, TGLF, in partnership with the RBM Partnership to End Malaria, RBM, said the activity would enable insights from frontline health workers and other professionals from around the world working with communities to end malaria. 

The collaboration aims to ensure that local experiences inform global actions.
Eighty percent of professionals involved work at the district and facility levels even as malaria remains a major health concern, especially in Africa and Asia. Despite improvements, challenges persist as health systems struggle. The partnership will prioritise gathering and amplifying the voices of local health workers who assess the various factors impacting malaria in their regions.

Through TGLF’s Teach to Reach initiative, the partnership will connect with community-based health workers, providing a platform for sharing practical insights and best practices against malaria. The peer-learning network, comprising over 60,000 health professionals, primarily focuses on those working at local levels. The RBM aims to ensure that malaria control initiatives are guided by individuals who understand the local challenges.

In the view of the CEO of RBM Partnership to End Malaria, Michael Adelunle Charles, “To end malaria, we must empower the people closest to the problem—health workers in affected communities. This partnership with TGLF allows us to listen to and learn from those on the frontlines of malaria control, ensuring that their voices drive our global strategies and actions toward elimination.” 

On his part, the Executive Director of The Geneva Learning Foundation, Reda Sadki, noted, “We need new ways to learn and lead.  Health worker leadership is critical to an integrated view of malaria response by and for local communities. By working directly with national malaria programs and country teams that are part of the RBM Partnership to End Malaria, we can help ensure that health workers’ knowledge and leadership shape effective, equitable, and locally-led action to eliminate this disease.”

A public health specialist at the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Abuja, Nigeria, Obiageli Victoria Okeke, said, “There’s no doubt malaria is a very big health challenge in my community and country. It has affected my family in such a way that I lost my niece. The medical personnel said it was malaria plus she wasn’t responding to treatment.”

Teach to Reach 11 set for December 5-6, 2024, will highlight local health workers in regions most affected by malaria transmission.

Insights gathered prior to the event will help shape the agenda for a special malaria event on December 10, 2024, ensuring that global strategies align with local realities and experiences from frontline workers.