KEY OBJECTIVES

The year 2005 was a milestone year for the Roll Back Malaria Partnership. In April 2000 at the Abuja Summit, African heads of state committed themselves, and their governments, to reach the RBM objective of halving the burden of malaria by 2010. They set interim targets to assess progress by 2005. In Africa, some countries have been able to reach at least some of the targets set in Abuja. It was clear, however, that there was much more work to be done to remove the obstacles that continue to hamper progress.

Forum V welcomed all partners committed to scaling up malaria control through the Partnership's mechanisms and succeeded in mobilizing all constituencies and their members to consider the priority actions needed to reverse the progression of the malaria epidemic.

More specifically, Forum V intended to:

• Collectively identify priorities for implementing the RBM Partnership Global Strategic Plan 2005-2015 in support of the malaria-related Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)
• Focus on the barriers and bottlenecks that are undermining efforts to roll back malaria
• Acknowledge the imperative for all constituencies to coordinate and harmonize their efforts to ensure sustained delivery and use of the most effective malaria prevention and treatment
• Make a global commitment to implement the Global Strategic Plan 2005-2015: the Yaoundé Call to Action
• Provide guidance to the RBM Partnership Board regarding future direction of the movement.