Zero Malaria Starts with Me is a pan-African malaria advocacy campaign launched in Ghana in 2019 by then First Lady Rebecca Akufo-Addo to mobilize political leadership, private funding, and community action against malaria. The campaign spread beyond Ghana to become a continent-wide movement backed by the African Union and the WHO Regional Office for Africa, built on the model of engaging heads of state and public figures directly in malaria elimination advocacy rather than leaving the work solely to health ministries. It served as the official theme of World Malaria Day for three consecutive years, from 2019 through 2021, reflecting its adoption as a coordinating message across national malaria programs on the continent. The campaign frames malaria elimination as a shared responsibility running from national leadership down to individual households, encouraging both government funding commitments and grassroots preventive behavior such as bed net use and prompt treatment seeking.
Facts
Program StatusActive; operational in 27 African countries. 1 Sponsoring BodyCo-led by the African Union and the RBM Partnership to End Malaria. 1 Geographic ScopePan-African; operational in 27 African countries as of the campaign's fifth anniversary. 1 Measured ResultsDistrict and municipal councils have to date secured 32 million US dollars in commitments through the campaign's resource mobilization mechanism. 1 Program status (class) Disputed
Launch YearThe pan-African campaign was adopted by African Union member states in July 2018 per this source. The entity's existing description dates a Ghana national launch to 2019, and other sources trace the original slogan to a Senegal campaign from 2014; recorded as debated pending reconciliation of these three dates rather than picking one silently. Classification
Program Kind Connections
Associated With
Source African Leaders Malaria Alliance: Africa Celebrates Five Years of Zero Malaria Starts with Me
Delivers Practice
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Sources
1. African Leaders Malaria Alliance: Africa Celebrates Five Years of Zero Malaria Starts with Me
African Leaders Malaria AllianceLaunch section
The campaign, adopted by the African Union Member States during the Ordinary Session of the Assembly of the Heads of State and Government of the African Union in July 2018
Leadership section
The campaign, co-led by the African Union and RBM Partnership to End Malaria
Participation section
is now operational in 27 African countries
Impact section
Councils have to date secured US$32 million in commitments through this innovative resource mobilization mechanism
Page text
Through “Zero Malaria Starts with Me” the malaria partners remain committed to ensuring that every man, woman and child in Africa, regardless of their location, has access to the necessary tools to prevent, diagnose, and treat malaria.
Program classification, entity description sentence
The campaign frames malaria elimination as a shared responsibility running from national leadership down to individual households, encouraging both government funding commitments and grassroots preventive behavior such as bed net use and prompt treatment seeking.
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