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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 26, 2006
Hopkins’ CCP Launches New Advocacy Program
to Promote Global Action on Malaria
BALTIMORE —A new advocacy initiative led by Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health Center for Communication Programs (CCP) today initiated an urgent global call to action for a malaria-free future for families living in the developing world.
CCP’s Global Program on Malaria has launched the VOICES for a Malaria-Free Future project to highlight successful anti-malaria efforts and evidence-based results. VOICES is designed to educate policymakers about effective programs and strategies for malaria control. VOICES includes advocacy projects in four developing countries — Ghana, Kenya, Mali, and Mozambique — that will promote progress made against malaria while also breaking down policy barriers that hamper effective prevention and control.
Recent increases in dedicated funding are creating a wave of momentum to limit malaria’s impact through insecticide-treated nets (ITNs), new combination therapies (ACTs), indoor residual spraying (IRS), intermittent preventive treatment (IPT) for pregnant women and infants, and vaccine research. While progress is being achieved and measured, many policymakers and opinion leaders are not fully aware of this progress or that a malaria-free future for families is possible.
“Globally, we want to engage new voices and bolster ongoing advocacy efforts by highlighting successful work going on at the country level,” said the project’s director, Matthew Lynch, PhD.
At the global level, VOICES will work with donor country leaders, policymakers, opinion leaders, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (GFATM), multilateral funding agencies, the Roll Back Malaria Partnership (RBM), global health advocates, existing malaria stakeholders, the private sector, the faith-based community, the research and development community, and the media. VOICES will also closely track global funding trends from a variety of sources, such as the World Bank, GFATM, governments, and other donors.
CCP will work with local community-based organizations to implement projects in both Ghana and Mali. The CORE Group, a membership association of international nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), will work with CCP in Mali through Groupe Pivot, a well-established national NGO umbrella group. In Kenya, CORE Group will provide support to the Kenya NGO Alliance Against Malaria (KeNAAM), while the Malaria Consortium will focus its efforts on Mozambique. The developing country efforts will work to ensure national malaria control strategies are in place, and adequately funded and implemented.
Supported by an $8.7 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, VOICES will develop materials based on lessons learned, successes, and case studies from developing country activities to enhance ongoing advocacy efforts and encourage new malaria advocates. It will also seek strategic opportunities to bring developing country spokespersons to the global stage to help make malaria a priority for opinion leaders, policymakers, and the media. International communications firm Fleishman-Hillard Inc. will provide strategic public relations support and counsel to the project.
With representatives in more than 30 countries, CCP partners with organizations worldwide to design and implement strategic communication programs that influence political dialogue, collective action, and individual behavior change; enhance access to information and the exchange of knowledge to improve health and health care; and conduct research to guide program design, evaluate impact, and advance knowledge and practice in health communication.
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