United to Beat Malaria Advocacy Champions Observe World Refugee Day

Thank you to Karina Chavez, Associate Partnerships Officer for the Americas region at UNHCR and Dana McLaughlin, Global Health Associate at United to Beat Malaria for leading a webinar for our Champions in observance of World Refugee Day on June 20th. Click here to view the slides and recording.  

Karina discussed highlights from UNHCR’s Global Report 2021. She shared that malaria remained the single most common cause of illness among refugees in 2020 and that UNHCR has mobilized financial resources in support of over 5 million refugees, asylum seekers, IDPs, stateless, & other persons of concern since 2008.   

Dana discussed how displacement creates additional challenges for key populations in the fight against malaria. For example, 60% of preventable maternal deaths, 53% of under-five deaths and 45% of neo-natal deaths take place in settings of conflict, displacement, and natural disasters. 

 Our malaria projects continue to prioritize families with young children, pregnant women, displaced populations, remote communities with little to no healthcare access, and frontline health workers who fight malaria in these communities. In 2021, 81% of the people we reached were internally-displaced or refugees.  Our Champions’ advocacy is critical to these efforts.  

Here’s what you can do!  

Tell Congress: Support Refugee Health. Your next opportunity to raise your voice in support of refugee health is coming up in September. The Global Fund to fight AIDS, TB, and Malaria is one of the world’s leading financers of malaria elimination programs that impact refugee health programs.  We will be meeting with Congress in support of a strong pledge from the United States to inspire other nations and donors to fully fund the Global Fund. These meetings will take place digitally on Thursday, September 8th.  

Next Steps: 

• Block your calendars.  Meetings will take place on Thursday, September 8th between 9:30am and 4:30pm EST. We will not get final schedules until closer to the day of meetings, so be sure to block off the whole day. 
• Register for meetings. Registration will open July 5th and stay open until August 5th .  

More Updates 

• United to Beat Malaria is proud to announce a new partnership with SC Johnson which will provide essential malaria resources to last mile and hard-to-reach populations through the Great Lakes Malaria Initiative (GLMI), a multi-country collaboration supported by SC Johnson that aims to reduce malaria cases in the African Great Lakes region by 50% by 2025. Click here to read about United to Beat Malaria’s new partnership with SC Johnson.  
• Our Advocacy Webinars will be taking a short break in celebration of the 4th of July. Our next webinar will be hosted on July 11th and will be focused on our upcoming meetings with members of Congress.  Register here. 

Questions about Advocacy? Email Maegan at [email protected].