As the world grapples with the COVID-19 pandemic, there is a renewed awareness of the devastating effects of infectious diseases and the need for robust health and surveillance systems. COVID-19 is testing the resilience of these systems around the world and is now moving into resource-limited settings, where its impact could be even more devastating. Malaria-endemic countries across the globe have reported cases of COVID-19 and 37 countries in Africa (which carries more than 90% of the global malaria burden) had reported cases by 5^th April 2020. Efforts to limit the spread of COVID-19 are necessary to allow health care systems to continue to serve their communities during this crisis.

At the same time, these efforts must not compromise access to life-saving malaria prevention, diagnosis and treatment services or threaten to reverse decades of hard-fought progress against malaria. Experience from previous disease outbreaks has shown the disruptive effect on health service delivery and the consequences for already vulnerable populations. COVID-19 is not the first reminder of the potentially delicate balance of global health challenges (Swine influenza in 2009, Ebola in 2014 and Zika virus in 2015) and it won’t be the last, although somehow it seems we forget and move on so quickly. Recognising this balance, the World Health Organization (WHO) has underlined the critical importance of continuing malaria prevention at this time. Ensuring access to vector control tools and products is an important strategy for reducing the strain on health systems. These vital tools include insecticide-treated nets (ITNs) and Indoor Residual Spraying (IRS) – which have been responsible for more than three quarters of averted clinical cases of malaria in the past 18 years.

In recent days, there have been reports of the suspension of vector control programmes in several African countries due to COVID-19. The WHO strongly encourages countries not to suspend the planning for or implementation of vector control activities, whilst, of course, taking all necessary precautions against spreading infection. There are also disruptions in the supply chains of essential vector control interventions, resulting from lockdowns and from a suspension of the importation and exportation of goods in response to COVID-19. Coordinated action is required to ensure the availability of these tools for the people who need them most and we are committed to contributing our expertise and networks to this end.

At IVCC, our vision is a world free of insect-borne disease, where lives are saved, and prosperity increased. Our strategy to reach this goal is to deliver a comprehensive toolbox of resistance-breaking vector control tools and to maximise their impact through market access interventions. During this time, we will continue to work in partnership with colleagues across the global health community to see this happen. The COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated once again that we do not have all the tools needed to tackle infectious diseases and so, if anything, more innovation than ever is essential. Current investments in malaria are saving hundreds of thousands of lives and preventing millions of cases per year. This is significant progress but too many people continue to suffer and die. In 2018, there were an estimated 228 million cases of malaria worldwide and an estimated 405,000 deaths – of which two thirds were children under five in Africa. As long as malaria exists, it threatens the poorest and most vulnerable and has the potential to resurge in times of public health crises – like the one we are facing now.

Against the backdrop of COVID-19 it could be easy for malaria to be forgotten by the international community and for vital resource allocation to suffer, so we are incredibly grateful for the continued support, guidance and work of all our funders and partners. In recognition of the importance of not taking our foot off the pedal with malaria eradication, our funders have encouraged us to continue to support partners through the challenges of COVID-19. It is difficult to apply blanket rules but we are taking a flexible and pragmatic approach to adjusting workplans and contracts to ensure the continuation of delivery of programs; supporting reasonable costs to ensure that essential resources and expertise remain in place; and considering, in good faith, requests to re-profile and revise project budgets, timelines and milestones. It is due to this commitment by us all to stay the course, even in these unprecedented times, that we will reach a malaria-free world.

Our thoughts remain, always, with people in malaria-endemic countries, our partners globally and our colleagues – we hope that you stay safe and well, and remain committed to playing our part in that.

The RBM Partnership to End Malaria is leading the global malaria community in celebrating the milestone of 2 billion insecticide-treated mosquito nets (ITNs) delivered worldwide since 2004. The development and scale up of these nets are responsible for 68% of the malaria cases prevented in Africa since 2000, contributing to global efforts that saved more than 7 million lives and prevented more than 1 billion malaria cases.

A new video highlights the global collaboration it took to boost funding, pioneer, produce, and deliver the insecticide-treated mosquito nets to millions of families around the world living at risk of malaria, a preventable disease that kills a child every 2 minutes. The film follows the journey of one of the nets passed among representatives from the global malaria community including advocates, a scientist, global leaders and malaria-endemic country health workers to reach a family in Nampula, Mozambique – one of 5 countries with the highest burden of malaria. It also features a classroom of young women in Nyanza Province, Kenya, including Clementina Akinyi. Ms Akinyi, now in her last year of high school, grew up sleeping under insecticide-treated nets, and was photographed as a young child under a mosquito net – an image which became iconic for the fight against malaria.

According to the latest World Malaria Report, between 2010 and 2018, the number of pregnant women and children under 5 in sub-Saharan Africa who slept under an insecticide-treated net more than doubled, up from 26% to 61%. Key initiatives driving this progress include The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria and the U.S. President’s Malaria Initiative (PMI), which purchased and worked with malaria-endemic countries and partners to distribute 1.13 billion and 400 million insecticide-treated mosquito nets, respectively. Many other governments, notably the UK, and organisations, including UNICEF, International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), the World Bank, the United Nations Foundation’s Nothing But Nets initiative and Against Malaria Foundation, also made significant contributions to the 2 billion net milestone.

While current evidence suggests that nets treated with pyrethroid insecticides continue to be effective against the mosquito, resistance to pyrethroids – the only insecticide class currently used in ITNs – is widespread and highest in the WHO African Region. To combat insecticide resistance, partners are developing, testing and scaling up nets with new insecticide combinations and harnessing data to better target where to distribute current and new nets. At IVCC, we are leading the implementation of the New Nets Project which began in 2019 in Burkina Faso and will expand in 2020 to Côte d’Ivoire, Mali, Mozambique, Nigeria and Rwanda. The pilot project is funded by Unitaid and the Global Fund. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and U.S. Agency for International Development are providing supplementary funding. And, in October 2019, MedAccess and the foundation announced an agreement with a mosquito net manufacturer to accelerate the availability of 35 million new nets. Ultimately the project and its partners seek to not only establish the necessary evidence base needed to support an appropriate policy recommendation, but to also make the new nets a sustainable choice for countries looking for the best value for money in controlling malaria.

 “The milestone of delivering 2 billion life-saving nets is a hallmark example of effective global partnership and sustained commitment over the past two decades. As we enter a new decade, we must now step up action to meet the ambitious global targets of further reducing malaria deaths and cases significantly by 2030. Political commitment and engagement from all levels of society will be crucial to ensure we reach those most vulnerable – pregnant women and children under 5 in sub-Saharan Africa – who still suffer from malaria with life-saving mosquito nets. Equally, we need to continue investing in developing, testing and scaling up nets with new insecticides and active ingredients to stay ahead of the evolving mosquito.”

Dr Abdourahmane Diallo
CEO, RBM Partnership to End Malaria

Notes to Editors

To arrange an interview with a representative for an organisation referenced in this press release, please contact the RBM Partnership press office at Grayling on RBMPartnership@grayling.com or call +44 (0)20 3861 3747.

This video marking the announcement is available for media outlets to use and share, with credit to the RBM Partnership to End Malaria. Pre-recorded interviews with the below spokespeople and case studies are also available on request.

• Dr Abdourahmane Diallo, CEO, RBM Partnership to End Malaria^*
• Marijke Wijnroks, Chief of Staff, The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria^*
• Kajal Patel, global advocate for malaria and malaria survivor^*
• Dr Ellie Sherrard-Smith, Research Associate, Imperial College London^*
• Clementina Akinyi, anti-malaria mosquito net champion

^{*Also available for further comment}

 To support this major milestone for global health and to engage in the celebration online, social media users can use #EndMalaria and #zeromalariastartswithme.

About the RBM Partnership to End Malaria

The RBM Partnership to End Malaria is the largest global platform for coordinated action against malaria. Originally established as Roll Back Malaria (RBM) Partnership in 1998, it mobilises for action and resources and forges consensus among partners. The Partnership is comprised of more than 500 partners, including malaria endemic countries, their bilateral and multilateral development partners, the private sector, nongovernmental and community-based organisations, foundations, and research and academic institutions. www.endmalaria.org

About IVCC

IVCC is the only Product Development Partnership (PDP) working in vector control. IVCC was established in 2005, through a $50million grant to the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine (LSTM) from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and is a registered charity in the UK. We work with stakeholders to facilitate the development of novel and improved public health insecticides and formulations to combat the rapidly growing problem of insecticide resistance. We bring together partners from industry, the public sector and academia to create new solutions to prevent disease transmission. By focusing resources and targeting practical scientific solutions we accelerate the process from innovation to impact.

The IVCC Annual Report 2018-2019 has been published. The report showcases IVCC’s work to facilitate innovative approaches to preventing vector-borne diseases and tackle the growing threat of insecticide resistance. With activities across the globe and spanning research and development and market access, we are accelerating the process from innovation to impact. The report is a reminder of the importance of collaborative working and the progress laid out in it is testament, too, to the commitment of our partners from industry, academia, the public sector and advocacy. We are grateful for the support of all of our funders, who make life-saving vector control possible.

“As I look at the year ahead, I believe we are set fair to maintain IVCC’s momentum towards accomplishing the stretching goals we have set ourselves.”
The Right Honourable Sir Stephen O’Brien KBE
Chair, Board of Trustees, IVCC

For more information or to request a physical copy please provide your full name and postal address to Chris Larkin on christopher.larkin@ivcc.com.

7 November 2019, Hanoi, Vietnam.

IVCC has published the results of three landscape studies it commissioned as part of its 5-year $18.75 million grant from the Indo-Pacific Centre for Health Security through Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT).

The reports, which will provide the platform for a series of bespoke product intervention strategies, aim to address the growing threat of vector-borne diseases in the region by providing a comprehensive analysis of the technical, regulatory and market access environment for vector control in the region.

The studies found that while there is a wide range of malaria and other disease transmission ecologies – stretching from South Asia through to the Pacific Islands – several common themes emerged including:

• Outdoor transmission is a key challenge necessitating innovation and access to vector control tools for outdoor protection.
• Despite a lack of insecticide resistance data in many parts of the region, insecticide resistance among dominant Anopheles vectors is widespread in South Asia, and there are indications that pyrethroid resistance is increasing in the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS), an area also confronting multi-drug-resistant parasites. Limited testing in PNG indicates that pyrethroid susceptibility remains high.
• Most national programmes rely almost exclusively on the mass distribution of long-lasting insecticide treated nets (LLINs), apart from Pakistan and India, which implement wide-scale indoor residual spraying (IRS).
• Aedes-borne diseases are on the rise as Ae. aegypti and Ae. albopictus populations continue to proliferate with increasing occurrences of dengue outbreaks and often inadequate diagnostic capacity to detect chikungunya and Zika viruses.
• There are some countries with relatively strong Aedes control programmes, but most lack capacity, accessible and effective surveillance and control options.
  Insecticide resistance among Aedes, both pyrethroid adulticides and temephos (organophosphate) larvicide, is very severe in some countries.
• Capacity for emergency response and implementation of International Health Regulations (IHR) for health security varies significantly, with most countries lacking adequate tools and resources.

IVCC is uniquely positioned to address these challenges in collaboration with national programmes and research, implementation and industry partners. Potential solutions fit into IVCC’s integrated vector management (IVM) portfolio of work, because rather than a single product, it is likely to be an integrated package of tools and approaches that, driven by improved, high-quality data and implementation, can sustainably reduce mosquito-borne diseases in the region.

Robin Davies, Head of Australia’s Indo-Pacific Centre for Health Security, said: “Vector control interventions have proven to be highly effective in reducing malaria and other mosquito-borne illnesses. Continued innovation in vector control, led by IVCC, will be critical to further driving down the burden of vector-borne disease across our region and globally.”

Nick Hamon, CEO of IVCC added; “IVCC has a wealth of experience and expertise in delivering impactful innovative vector control solutions across sub-Saharan Africa. By tapping into this knowledge and expertise we are well placed to transfer our knowledge and learning to deliver a toolbox of relevant vector control solutions fit for the Indo-Pacific region.”

Notes

The reports were launched during a workshop of regulators from across Asia-Pacific focused on best practices and challenges related to the registration and regulation of vector control products. The workshop was convened as part of the Vector Control Platform in Asia Pacific (VCAP), an initiative led by the Asia Pacific Leaders Malaria Alliance (APLMA) and Unitaid to address policy barriers to vector control.

The technical landscape was undertaken by the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) Malaria

Elimination Initiative, the regulatory landscape by the consultant John Paul Vasanthan and the Market Access Landscape by FutureBridge.

Conducted between September 2018 and May 2019, the studies comprised of a desk review of 19 countries and in-depth consultations and interviews with governments and partners in the focus countries of Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Papua New Guinea (PNG) and Vietnam.

IVCC plays its part in a major milestone which will accelerate the availability of latest mosquito net technology for communities with greatest needs.

The joint announcement made by BASF, MedAccess and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation last month is a key achievement for public private partnership and reflects the commitment of organizations such as IVCC who partnered with BASF to support the development of the Interceptor® G2 nets. It also supports the objectives of the New Nets Project, co-financed by the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria and Unitaid, and led by IVCC.

IVCC worked with BASF to support the development and registration of Interceptor® G2 and this ground-breaking product represents a key achievement for the PDP model of product development and collaboration with industry.

IVCC has developed and led the NNP project to bring together the partnerships required to deliver the multiple interventions required to optimise effective scale up of this and other exciting new products.

See full announcement on the right.