19 June 2023 – Yemen’s technical working group on malaria, comprising staff of the national malaria control programme, WHO, the Global Fund to Fight TB, AIDS and Malaria, International Organization for Migration and UNICEF, met in person to discuss subnational tailoring of malaria interventions in Yemen, on 3–8 June 2023, at the WHO Regional Office in Cairo. During the 6-day meeting, core malaria interventions were analyzed and prioritized, and recommendations for tailoring interventions according to the most at-risk populations were discussed, based on available evidence and data.

The need to tailor malaria interventions at subnational level was one of the key recommendations of the Malaria Policy Advisory Group meeting, which took place in March 2022. It was further endorsed for action at a subsequent meeting in April 2023. Subnational tailoring of malaria interventions is the use of local data and contextual information to determine the appropriate mixes of interventions and delivery strategies for a given area, such as a district, health facility catchment area or village, for optimum impact in reducing the burden of malaria and transmission. Subnational tailoring considers variations in malaria epidemiology, health system structure and function, and broader contextual considerations, which include human and vector ecology.

The main objective of the meeting was to recommend effective core malaria interventions to target the most at-risk areas, based on available evidence, and update malaria risk mapping, which will in turn inform the malaria programme performance review and updating of the national malaria strategic plan for 2024–2027. This will pave the way for a review and update of both programmatic and funding gaps as a preliminary step to supporting Yemen’s malaria funding request application that will be submitted to the Global Fund in 2024.