R EVITALIZING THE C ASE M R ANAGEMENT OLL W B ACK ORKING M ALARIA G ROUP

Rationale

 Although significant progress has been made in malaria control, enormous challenges remain to scaling up timely access to effective diagnosis and treatment for malaria.

 Effective case management is a fundamental element of successful malaria control, a key component of Global Malaria Action Plan strategy and essential to achieving the Millennium Development Goals.

 New challenges in case management have created more opportunities to make progress, provided that coherent action among key stakeholders can be achieved.

 A revitalized Case Management Working Group is urgently needed to facilitate that coherent action.

Background

 The Case Management Working Group operated successfully for two years, from 2003 to 2004.

 It played a key role in generating consensus around the push for ACT adoption by countries as first-line treatment.

 The RBM Partnership Board recognizes emerging challenges in case management and has strongly endorsed the revitalization of the working group to address these issues.

RBM Case Management Working Group The Case Management Working Group creates a valuable forum for technical experts to:

 Discuss key issues in expanding access to effective treatment  Develop new strategies and methods for scaling up  Identify and document the best practices from field experience  Disseminate information and implementation updates  Identify key scale-up gaps, priorities for action, and if needed organize task forces to address them

Areas requiring coherent and concerted action by the Case Management Working Group

Progress to scale-up and a strong commitment to meet global targets has created new challenges in case management, including:  Scaling up malaria diagnosis, including in the context of changing transmission intensities  Preventing and managing the spread of artemisinin resistance  Access and delivery systems including quality of services and case reporting  Quality and safety of drugs and diagnostics

Objectives of the Meeting

   To review and revise TORs and composition (membership, chairs and secretariat) for the Case Management Working Group to submit to the next RBM Board Meeting To map the actors and activities on treatment access issues globally To identify key bottlenecks and opportunities where coordinated action is needed, including    Prevention and management of drug resistance, diagnostics, access and quality Identify priority areas for action and modalities including task forces Develop one-year action plan and outline budget