12 African countries rewarded for their efforts to eradicate malaria by the 2015 ALMA Awards for Excellence 

Addis Ababa, 31^st January 2015. Twelve African countries received the 2015 African Leaders Malaria Alliance (ALMA) Award for Excellence during a ceremony held at the Headquarters of the African Union today 31^st January 2015, for their significant contribution in the fight against malaria.

The Prime Minister of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, H.E Hailemariam Desalegn, current Chair of the ALMA, commended the work of the previous chairs “in making ALMA a strong platform for our collective action in the fight against malaria”.

The African Union Chairperson, Dr. Nkozasana Dlamini Zuma in her opening remarks welcomed and appreciated the good initiative of ALMA. She noted that despite the progress in different African Countries to fight Malaria, it is still a big problem in our continent and much need to be done.

In this regard, she emphasized that by 2030 ,Africa need to be free from Malaria. It is therefore important to use this year dedicated to the empowerment of women “to redouble the efforts towards the eradication of malaria among women and children.”, she noted.

Burkina Faso, Burundi, Central Africa Republic, Chad, Comoros, Guinea, Guinea –Bissau and The Gambia received the first 2015 ALMA award for Excellence in Implementation of Vector Control. The second Award for Excellence for most improved in Malaria control forwarded to Burundi, Sierra Leone, South Sudan and Togo and Ethiopia Awarded for Excellence in Innovation Ethiopia.

The award ceremony was organized at the sidelines of the 24^th African Union Summit. These awardees are chosen by an independent selection committee representing the World Health Organization (WHO), Roll Back Malaria (RBM), the private sector, civil society and academia. The selection is based upon the data collected by RBM partners and reflected in the ALMA scorecard for Accountability and action and country quarterly report.