13 Back WHO on malaria
Resolution submitted by the RCN Greater Gwent Branch
That this meeting of RCN Congress calls for RCN Council to lobby the UK governments and the International Council of Nurses to back the World Health Organization’s drive to control malaria
- Work led by the Public Policy Committee
- Lead RCN Council member: Maura Buchanan
Since Congress 2007, the RCN International Department has worked with the RCN President, the RCN Practice Nurse Association, the RCN Travel Health Forum and the RCN London Region to highlight the continuing need to control and combat malaria.
The RCN President Maura Buchanan attended an ICN workshop on malaria, highlighting key issues and the need to back the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Roll Back Malaria programme. She also attended an African Medical and Research Foundation meeting on the Malaria Millennium Development Goal (MDG) and raised the concerns of RCN members with the Shadow Secretary of State for Health. Letters from the President highlighting RCN member concerns relating to malaria were sent to the Secretary of State for International Development and also the President of International Council of Nurses. In addition, the RCN General Secretary met with Under-Secretary of State for International Development in autumn on a number of health issues and highlighted RCN members’ concerns relating to achievements against the MDG and the Roll Back Malaria initiative. The UK Government has contributed £49 million to the initiative to date and £359 million to the Global Fund but acknowledges that there is little firm evidence of improvement in the world’s malaria-endemic regions and more needs to be done.
The RCN also raised the need for further investment in combating malaria at the Commonwealth Health Ministers meeting held in Geneva in May 2007; the British Travel Health Association Conference in June 2007, and the Royal College of Nursing, Royal College of Midwives, Voluntary Service Overseas and Médicines Sans Frontières joint seminar in June 2007. The International Department has also liaised with the Director of the UK Malaria Reference Laboratory, the Director of the Department of Health funded National Travel Health Network and Advice Centre and Chair of London Malaria Group.
As a result in the UK the RCN Practice Nurse Association and the RCN Travel Health Forum have contributed to the development of a malaria strategy for London; the London Malaria Group will have an RCN representative on their Group and the National Travel Health Network and Advice Centre has agreed that there will be RCN representation on their UK-wide Advisory Group.
Awareness of the key issues relating to Roll Back Malaria and the RCN resolution has been raised within press, with coverage in Nursing Standard and the Travel Health Forum summer edition of its newsletter which went out to 8,500 members.
In May 2007, an RCN competencies framework for nurses providing travel health, including malaria prevention, was published by the RCN and is now available at www.rcn.org.uk/publications
The RCN President's Charity for Congress 2008 is the International Campaign for the Relief of Starvation and Suffering (ICROSS). Contributions from members at Congress will go towards the ICROSS core programme of malaria control in Kenya.