PMI July 2018 E-Newsletter
Announcements
On April 30th, PMI officially welcomed Dr. Kenneth Staley into his new role as the U.S. Global Malaria Coordinator, appointed by the President and with leadership and oversight of all U.S. Government activities to combat malaria globally. “With academic preparation and a distinguished career in public health, Dr. Staley is eminently qualified to carry on PMI’s outstanding legacy,” Congressman Gregory W. Meeks, co-chair of the House Caucus on Malaria and Neglected Tropical Diseases, said in a statement. “As PMI is being expanded to cover over half a billion people, it will be no easy task, but I believe Dr. Staley is equipped to lead the program to continued success.” View Dr. Staley’s bio.
PMI Names Dr. Rick Steketee as the New Deputy US Global Malaria Coordinator
Dr. Rick Steketee, MD, MPH is a medical epidemiologist with over 30 years of public health experience in infectious diseases. He spent 21 years as an active duty member of the U.S. Public Health Service, 15 of those years at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and became CDC’s Malaria Branch Chief in 2000. Dr. Steketee joined PATH in 2005 and has been the Director of PATH’s Malaria Control and Elimination Program (MCEP) and Director of the Malaria Control and Elimination Partnership in Africa (MACEPA) since 2015. Dr. Steketee will assume the Deputy role in August.
Dr. Rick Steketee, MD, MPH is a medical epidemiologist with over 30 years of public health experience in infectious diseases. He spent 21 years as an active duty member of the U.S. Public Health Service, 15 of those years at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and became CDC’s Malaria Branch Chief in 2000. Dr. Steketee joined PATH in 2005 and has been the Director of PATH’s Malaria Control and Elimination Program (MCEP) and Director of the Malaria Control and Elimination Partnership in Africa (MACEPA) since 2015. Dr. Steketee will assume the Deputy role in August.
Because of the generosity of the American people, PMI’s program in fiscal year 2017 benefitted more than 480 million people at risk of malaria across sub-Saharan Africa and in targeted communities at risk for malaria in the Greater Mekong Subregion. PMI embarked on a five-country expansion with a budget allocated to new country implementation for year one totaling $103 million, thanks to a sustained commitment and increased resources from the U.S. Congress. PMI’s Twelfth Annual Report to Congress, published on World Malaria Day (April 25, 2018), further details the U.S. Government's leadership and technical and financial contributions to the fight against malaria. Read the report.
Updated PMI Technical Guidance Now Available [PDF, 2.7MB]
This document provides technical guidance and background across the suite of malaria interventions and approaches and serves as a reference tool for PMI country teams, national malaria control programs, and other partners implementing PMI-funded malaria activities. The guidance is updated on an annual basis to reflect the most recent global policies and the state-of-the-art of malaria control.
As the largest bilateral donor and a key partner providing critical technical leadership for global efforts to prevent, control, and eliminate malaria, including through bilateral technical and program implementation support to 11 Commonwealth countries, the U.S. Government was invited to CHOGM as a key partner, even though the United States is not a member of the Commonwealth. On April 18, Irene Koek, in her role as Acting U.S. Global Malaria Coordinator, spoke on a panel session entitled, “Innovation, Tools and Strategies.” The U.S. Government has committed $755 million for PMI. This commitment is in addition to the $206 million investment in malaria programming by the Departments of Defense and Health and Human Services.
Country in Focus: Mozambique
Mozambique’s entire estimated population of 29.7 million people is at risk of malaria. Among children under five years of age, malaria accounts for 42 percent of the deaths. Most of the country has year-round malaria transmission with a seasonal peak during the rainy season from December to April. The 2015 combined Immunization, Malaria, and HIV/AIDS Indicator Survey underscored the reality that malaria is a rural disease in Mozambique: prevalence in rural areas was over two times as high as the prevalence in urban areas (47 percent versus 19 percent, respectively). Mozambique is in its twelfth year as a PMI focus country and with PMI support the number of deaths due to malaria decreased by 32 percent between 2015 and 2016. PMI-supported activities include: support of the IRS program; free routine ITN distribution through antenatal care and a school-based distribution pilot; procurement and distribution of RDTs and ACTs; provision of IPTp; and support for behavior change communication and surveillance. Learn more about PMI’s work in Mozambique.
Mozambique’s entire estimated population of 29.7 million people is at risk of malaria. Among children under five years of age, malaria accounts for 42 percent of the deaths. Most of the country has year-round malaria transmission with a seasonal peak during the rainy season from December to April. The 2015 combined Immunization, Malaria, and HIV/AIDS Indicator Survey underscored the reality that malaria is a rural disease in Mozambique: prevalence in rural areas was over two times as high as the prevalence in urban areas (47 percent versus 19 percent, respectively). Mozambique is in its twelfth year as a PMI focus country and with PMI support the number of deaths due to malaria decreased by 32 percent between 2015 and 2016. PMI-supported activities include: support of the IRS program; free routine ITN distribution through antenatal care and a school-based distribution pilot; procurement and distribution of RDTs and ACTs; provision of IPTp; and support for behavior change communication and surveillance. Learn more about PMI’s work in Mozambique.
In the News
The New York Times’ “Fixes” column tells the story of the Senegalese Sugar Company, which had remained a “malaria microcosm” in a nation that had otherwise experienced a 62 percent drop in malaria deaths. With the support of PMI, the cases of malaria among the company’s mostly seasonal migrant workers went from 20 a day to 29 a year. Six-month spending on antimalarials also decreased from $23,000 to $300. This was in part due to rapid diagnostic tests, new database software and data collection protocols, and community health workers.
Country Activities
In Kakamega County, Kenya, 1.9 million long-lasting insecticide-treated nets procured through a collaboration between PMI and the Global Fund will help keep over 3.4 million people free from malaria. To ensure these nets are used properly and for the benefit of the community, the government and PMI project staff in Kenya have recruited “ligurus,” or village elders, to assist in the coordination of the most recent mass coverage campaign and answer questions from the villagers about the nets.
Despite the proven effectiveness of indoor residual spraying (IRS), people in Mali’s Mopti region were sometimes reluctant to have their homes sprayed due to rumors that wrongly associate illness and death with IRS. A radio campaign consisting of 12 radio programs (three spots in four different languages) helped ease concerns and lead to many initially reluctant community members to request spray appointments for their homes. Ultimately the PMI-supported African IRS Project achieved 95 percent coverage.
As part of a malaria community case management strategy, Guinea’s Ministry of Health issues a monthly bulletin listing the 10 health centers with the highest incidence of malaria. For those health centers, the PMI-supported program, StopPalu, in collaboration with the district management teams, organizes activities, such as community dialogues to help those community members understand the reasons for this high incidence and which actions to take to reverse the situation. At the end of the dialogue meetings, the community develops an action plan to address identified issues and nominates community members to be responsible for each activity.
For Uganda’s second universal net coverage campaign, the National Malaria Control Programme, supported by USAID’s Malaria Action Program for Districts, sought to improve communication between subcommittees through the innovative use of the smartphone messaging application, WhatsApp. Using the group messaging app as a team communication tool during the February 2017 Ugandan universal net coverage campaign led to improved central coordination, efficient decision-making, and enhanced information sharing. The audio function allowed team leaders to send messages by recording their own voice, complemented with pictures and videos, which succeeded in conveying messages more clearly and timely than other methods.
In order to reach six rural Nigerian locations for essential entomological surveillance, the PMI-supported indoor residual spray (IRS) project used to engage the services of specialized vehicle-hiring outfits to obtain properly equipped SUVs. Now, under a new agreement, the state Ministries of Health supply specially equipped Hilux vans with supporting drivers while the IRS project fuels the vehicles and provides a stipend to the drivers. This has resulted in a 50 percent reduction in the logistical cost of transportation to these communities. The clearly branded vehicles also allay the fears of the communities and consequently ensure better cooperation with the surveillance teams.
View the full version of this newsletter, including recent reports, publications, and stories from the field.
Zanzibar Minister of Health Hamad Rashid launches the Chandarua Kliniki program, which delivers insecticide-treated nets (ITNs) to community members. Photo credit: Hannah Koenker/VectorWorks.
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