Our goal is that the tangible result of GMEC 2025 will be an agreement by major participants to create a new entity that we tentatively call the Global Malaria Eradication Initiative (GMEI). GMEI will be a new organization with the mission of bringing major stakeholders around the world in the fight against malaria. Through GMEI, stakeholders will be able to align their strategies, target their investments, cooperate on programs, and work together to both secure the additional funding needed to reach national malaria elimination targets and to ensure that available funding is used as efficiently and effectively as possible.

There does not currently exist a single organization that is solely focused on malaria while coordinating malaria reduction efforts across the widest range of stakeholders: governments, inter-governmental agencies, foundations, private charities, and more. We believe that such coordination has the potential to significantly improve global efforts to eliminate and eventually eradicate malaria.

We assume that few interesting decisions are made in rooms of 500 people. Our plan is to use the approaching Congress to spur major multinational stakeholders into action prior to the Congress, with the goal of announcing GMEI at the actual event.

It absolutely can be successful. We hope that GMEI (or something like it) will come out of this event, but if not, many other positive outcomes will still result, including attendee education and networking, sharing of best practices, and greater awareness among RI and the broader Rotary community of the opportunity to commit resources to eradicate malaria.

The name “Global Malaria Eradication Initiative” is a reference to GPEI, the Global Polio Eradication Initiative. The WHO created GPEI in 1988, in response to the World Health Assembly (WHO), the governing forum of WHO, resolving to eradicate polio. The WHO continues to lead GPEI, with other major stakeholders including Rotary International, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), and BMGF. The GPEI has decreased polio cases by more than 99% since its founding, and as of 2021, was forecast to deliver USD$33 billion in net economic benefits as of 2023.

GMEC 2025 will bring together stakeholders from across sectors—including scientists, policymakers, health workers and community leaders—to collaborate on education, advocacy, and information sharing. Attendees will have the opportunity to raise awareness about latest evidence-based interventions toward eliminating malaria. They can also promote specific eradication measures, key learnings, and strategic opportunities to apply across affected regions worldwide. With so many players involved in anti-malaria efforts, the Congress will provide a crucial forum to align priorities, pool resources and create an actionable roadmap to make malaria eradication a reality in our lifetimes. GMEC 2025 underscores that defeating this disease once and for all will require persistent cooperation across borders, knowledge domains, and social strata.

We want to maintain continuity with the name of the predecessor Congress, while at the same time focusing attendees and observing organizations on the idea that the tools to feasibly eradicate malaria now either exist or are far along in development. We believe that the name Global Malaria Eradication Congress achieves this goal. It also serves as a bridge to the hoped-for result of the Congress: the creation of the Global Malaria Eradication Initiative.

With over 1.4 million members across the globe, RI stands as the largest civil society international service organization.8 We welcome RI as a lead stakeholder in efforts to eradicate malaria. RI conventions consistently draw over 20,000 attendees, who by their Rotary service are dedicated community leaders. This makes the RICON an ideal venue to engage Rotarians to join us as core partners and champions. By leveraging RI’s extensive on-the-ground volunteer networks and global health experience, we aim to magnify impact dramatically across malaria affected populations in developing nations. Just as RI has mobilized the workforce and resources critical to routing polio, so too can it help lead coordinated efforts against malaria transmission and infection sources. In combining compassionate service with targeted interventions, RI represents the perfect partner to propel malaria eradication goals into reality. With RI onboard, we see a future free of malaria clearly within reach.

Rotary is known around the world for its central role in the effort to eradicate polio. Rotarians have volunteered their time, effort, and money to contribute to this effort. As we approach the moment of declaring the world polio-free, we believe that malaria is the next great global health initiative. We believe that Rotarians everywhere can apply their knowledge and passion to a new endeavor that has the potential to save over half a million lives a year. We eagerly invite Rotarians across clubs worldwide to join forces with us toward this shared vision of global health equity.

We expect so, but this will depend on the desires of stakeholders and the reaction of the entire community of people and organizations fighting malaria.

By keeping presentations short, avoiding text-heavy slides, emphasizing compelling visuals, and encouraging personal storytelling and vulnerability, TED-style talks have the potential to dramatically increase audience engagement and presentation recall. Each of the top 25 most popular TED talks of all time has at least 29 million views to date, and each of the top 10 most popular TEDx (local TED-style events) talks has at least 14 million views to date.

Applications to present at GMEC 2025 will be available on our website beginning in April 2024. Those selected and invited to present will be carefully chosen by the steering committee. For anyone seeking consideration, application instructions for both presenters and posters will be found on our website.

Attendance is open to all intent on learning about malaria and interested in joining the effort focused on its elimination and eradication. In-person attendance will be limited to the first 500 applicants. Following GMEC 2025, we will make presentations available via various streaming and social media channels.

All application information will be available on our website.

Event and application information will be available on our website.

We are glad you asked! Until the RICON in Singapore (25–29 May 2024), we have a single Steering Committee, composed of representatives of the underwriting and supporting organizations. After the conclusion of the RICON in Singapore, we will create multiple committees to guide and perform the work necessary to make the Congress a success. These committees will include sponsorship, program, and attendance. We will encourage every interested member of the organizations to volunteer and help make GMEC 2025 a success!