Hon. Njume Takes Malaria Fight to European Parliaments

From Yaoundé to Paris and Berlin, Hon. Njume Peter Ambang is forging international parliamentary alliances to strengthen malaria financing and advance African-led solutions.

A parliamentary initiative launched in Cameroon is expanding into a continental campaign, with Hon. Njume Peter Ambang taking the fight against malaria to European legislatures and international health institutions. His mission is to secure stronger political commitment, sustainable financing and African ownership of the solutions needed to eliminate the disease.

As founder of the Parliamentary Caucus on Health Financing in Cameroon’s National Assembly, Hon. Njume Peter Ambang championed the principle that malaria cannot be defeated by the health sector alone. Its effects extend into education, economic development, environmental management and public finance, requiring coordinated action across government. That advocacy contributed to a decree by the Prime Minister, Head of Government, establishing a National Multisectoral Committee to Fight Malaria and providing a formal framework for interministerial cooperation.

The initiative soon developed a continental ambition. Recognising that malaria transmission does not respect national borders, Hon. Njume Peter Ambang called on fellow African parliamentarians to replicate Cameroon’s approach by strengthening legislative engagement, establishing health financing caucuses and promoting coordinated government action. The result was the Coalition of Parliamentarians to End Malaria in Africa (COPEMA), which, one year after its creation, has brought together 60 parliamentarians from 12 African countries. Serving as its Leading Co-Chair, Hon. Njume Peter Ambang is helping drive an agenda centred on domestic financing, accountability, legislative leadership and African manufacturing of malaria-control tools.

In June, Hon. Njume Peter Ambang travelled to Paris at the invitation of the Association of the African Diaspora Fighting Against Malaria, an organisation comprising African elected officials in France. There, he signed a cooperation agreement designed to formalise collaboration between parliamentarians from Africa and African elected representatives in Europe. The partnership seeks to unite political advocacy across borders and strengthen collective action against malaria. During the visit, he also held strategic discussions with senior French senators, including a senator recently re-elected as vice-president of the French Senate. He called for France to sustain its support for global health initiatives, including the Global Fund and Expertise France, while placing greater emphasis on African manufacturing capacity and parliamentary leadership.

His diplomatic engagement continued in Berlin, where Hon. Njume Peter Ambang participated in the World Health Summit, a major international gathering of health leaders and policymakers. At the German Bundestag, he met German parliamentarians alongside representatives of international health institutions, research organisations, the Global Fund and Gavi. He expressed appreciation for Germany’s contribution to global health and urged continued support during the next replenishment of the Global Fund. His central argument was that investment in malaria elimination extends beyond public health, contributing to global health security, economic resilience and international stability.

Berlin also yielded a significant institutional partnership. Hon. Njume Peter Ambang signed a memorandum of understanding with UNITE, the International Parliamentary Network for Global Health, which connects parliamentarians working on global health issues. The agreement is intended to broaden COPEMA’s international reach by engaging legislators in Europe, Asia and Latin America in advocacy for malaria elimination and stronger health financing. In a separate engagement, he presented the Health Committee of the Pan-African Parliament with a draft memorandum proposing that the fight against malaria become a formal priority for African legislatures. If adopted, the initiative could encourage parliaments across the continent to establish health financing caucuses modelled on Cameroon’s experience.

The expanding network reflects Hon. Njume Peter Ambang’s conviction that Africa must move beyond dependence on external assistance and strengthen its capacity to finance, oversee and produce its own public health solutions. While international partnerships remain important, he argues that sustainable progress will depend on stronger domestic investment, effective parliamentary scrutiny and political accountability.

From a parliamentary caucus in Yaoundé to partnerships in Paris and Berlin, COPEMA’s trajectory illustrates an effort to place African legislators at the centre of the malaria response. The challenge now is to translate diplomatic agreements into concrete policies, sustained funding and measurable results. For Hon. Njume Peter Ambang, the ultimate objective is clear: ensuring that children in Cameroon’s Far North, the Sahel and the country’s forest regions no longer die from a preventable and treatable disease. His campaign, he maintains, will continue until malaria is eliminated in Africa.