Rédaction Africa Links 24 with La Prospérité
From Monday, February 26 to Wednesday, February 28, 2024, 20 Civil Society Organizations were trained on advocacy for mobilizing domestic resources for the fight against Malaria in the Democratic Republic of Congo. A workshop organized by the National Malaria Control Program in partnership with Impact Health Africa. Over the three days, participants received knowledge about the program and associated strategies aimed at ending malaria, which is currently considered the leading cause of morbidity, hospitalization, and mortality in Congo. This conference, held in Kinshasa, aims to achieve results that will increase the level of knowledge of CSOs on the national strategic plan for malaria control (PSNLP) 2024-2028 and the malaria communication strategy.
At the end of their training, the CSOs together developed an action plan comprising different types of messages defined in relation to advocacy. They also mentioned some concrete actions to take once in their respective entities in order to better support community health workers (RECO), including integrating the remuneration of RECOs into the state budget and collecting the needs of RECOs, etc.
However, advocacy actions are to be addressed to both direct and indirect decision-makers from March to September, with the aim of reducing the malaria rate in the DRC by at least 70% by 2028.
“The NMCP and ISA organized this workshop to strengthen the capacities of civil society organizations in advocacy and program strategies. We emphasized the national malaria control policy while focusing on our appropriate strategies: prevention, case management, and surveillance, based on a foundation of communication on malaria control. Our strategic plan also has a gap to fill, which is why we trained CSO leaders to help the program advocate for prevention, case management, surveillance, and communication,” stated Clarisse Mbo from the National Malaria Control Program.
She urged all participants from CSOs to develop an action plan in each respective field of action in support of the fight against malaria by first identifying the community’s needs, which will guide the advocacy to obtain results for the community.
Brison Ibaya, coordinator of the Action for the Development of Disadvantaged Communities, a civil society organization, shared his impressions after participating in the three-day training: “I am very happy to have taken part in this workshop where we learned a lot. We were strengthened in capacities related to the epidemiological data of the national malaria control program. We were also armed with communication techniques that will help us carry out our advocacy effectively on the ground. We also learned the steps and processes of advocacy, accompanied by exercises on how to conduct advocacy in the field. With all these techniques learned, we come out of this training with reliable information to implement for developing an action plan and conducting effective advocacy actions on the ground to improve the situation and communication on malaria control,” he said.
To crown it all, participants from CSOs received certificates attesting to their participation in this workshop. Therefore, CSOs collectively reaffirmed their commitment to continue working towards raising awareness among the population in favor of the fight against malaria in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
It is worth noting that malaria is among the leading causes of morbidity in the population of the DRC, with the most vulnerable being children aged 0 to 5 years and pregnant women. In 2022, the DRC recorded at least 27 million confirmed cases of malaria and over 25 thousand deaths. With these numbers, the DRC becomes the second most affected country by this disease in Africa and the third in the world after India and Nigeria. However, at present, the elimination of malaria is part of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the country, and to combat this endemic disease, the commitment and involvement of all, including Civil Society Organizations, are crucial.
Fidel Songo
Read the original article(French) on La Prosperite
