MCDI MALARIA

The Alliance for Malaria Prevention Toolkit now available

2011-11-28T11:24:00.001-08:00

The Alliance for Malaria Prevention is a partnership comprised of over 40 partners, including government agencies, private sector businesses, public sector organizations, faith-based organizations, and humanitarian organizations. Each of these partners provides an invaluable contribution to the partnership in supporting countries reach the RBM 2010 targets through increased LLIN ownership and use. The alliance has recently released its second edition of toolkit for developing integrated campaigns to encourage the distribution and use of long lasting insecticide-treated nets and be downloaded from here. The first edition of the toolkit is also available here.

Malaria on Bioko Island–Spanish

2011-09-01T08:04:00.001-07:00

This video presents the training program in malaria control that was recently completed by a group of eight young professionals from the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare (MOHSW) of Equatorial Guinea. This program was part of the capacity-building initiative implemented by Medical Care Development International, through its Bioko Island Malaria Control Project (BIMCP), that seeks to gradually enable the MOHSW to manage a full range of malaria control interventions. It was made possible with the financial support of Marathon Oil Corporation and its partners the Ministry of Mines, Industry and Energy; Noble Energy; Sonagas; and Atlantic Methanol. The training program took place at the National Institute of Public Health in Mexico, Cayetano Heredia University in Peru, and the School for International Training in Vermont. The trainees have returned to Equatorial Guinea and are now receiving in-service training at the BIMCP from a team of expatriate malaria control experts. A plan is being developed to gradually transfer technical and managerial responsibility for the project to the Equatoguinean trainees.

Below is the Spanish version with English subs

Training of Equato-Guinean students at the Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia

2011-07-26T08:39:00.001-07:00

This initiative was to strengthen the National Malaria Control of Equatorial Guinea, supported by the public private partnership between the Marathon Oil Company, the Government of Equatorial Guinea, and implemented by Medical Care Development International.

After six months of training in malaria control, students from Equatorial Guinea have successfully completed the "International Diploma in Malaria Control", held at the Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia (UPCH) between the months of February to June 2011; Tuesday June 6^th was their graduation day.

In the closing ceremony attended by Dr. Fabiola Leon-Velarde, Dean of the UPCH and Foundation President Cayetano Heredia; Dr. Patricia Garcia, Dean of the Faculty of Public Health at the university; Dr. Alejandro Llanos, Training Program Coordinator; Dr. Gloria Nseng, Director of the National Malaria Control of Equatorial Guinea; Jenny Henderson, National Coordinator of the Strategy for Malaria Control of the Peruvian Ministry of Health; Dr. Pablo Aguilar, the representative of Medical Care Development International (MCDI); Guillermo Gonzales, the representative of PAHO / WHO and NAMRUD; and Dr. Jaime Chang, the representative of USAID.

The International Diploma is part of the activities of the Malaria Control Project on the island of Bioko, within the capacity building component, which began in 2003 as part of the response of the Equato-Guinean Ministry of Health and Welfare to the high morbidity and mortality caused by malaria. This project is funded by the Government of Equatorial Guinea, Marathon Oil Company and its partners, comprised of a corporate social volunteer initiative and public private partnership, which is implemented with the technical support of the North American NGO Medical Care Development International (MCDI), which also implement projects in over 20 countries in Africa, 17 of them funded by PMI-USAID under the IMaD project, an initiative to strengthen malaria diagnostics. In addition, IMaD is a principal recipient of the Global Fund and other funding institutions.

After obtaining good results with 35% reduction of malaria morbidity in children under 5 years old between 2003 and 2008 and becoming the first country in sub-Saharan Africa in achieving the Millennium Development Goals, as a part of institutional strengthening, the Malaria Control Program developed a process of selection, recruitment and training of eight professionals in a transparent manner starting from the creation of the National Human Resources Committee, which held a session of a total of 129 candidates in 2010. Upon returning to Equatorial Guinea, the eight students joined the National Malaria Control Program and Malaria Control Project on the island of Bioko to assist in strengthening the operations of a program of high strategic importance due to the fact that malaria remains the leading cause of death to the poorest populations in the country. The students will participate in the next phase of training, part of the Transition Plan, in which MCDI Technical Officers will continue with on-site training of the project and program operations, a process that will include a robust monitoring and supervision to ensure the completion of all the indicators. It is anticipated that once students reach the desired level, MCDI expatriate staff will leave the project and the national staff will assume their roles.

This training began in September 2010 at the National Public Health Institute of Mexico where the students received lessons on basic malaria concepts. The following stage was held in the U.S. at the School for International Training in Vermont, where students were trained in monitoring and evaluation of malaria and took English as a second language courses. In addition, they had the opportunity to meet representatives of Congress to discuss global health issues.

The third stage took place in the city of Lima, led by the Foundation Cayetano Heredia. The personalized training sessions provided the students with the opportunity to thoroughly analyze key thematic topics. After training in Lima, the students participated in a practical training in the city of Iquitos in the Loreto region. The students were able to observe first-hand the inner workings of the management, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of a malaria control strategy at the regional, district and local levels. As part of the final requirement to complete the academic program, students conducted a situation analysis of institutional and strategic planning of the malaria control strategy in Iquitos. The students identified key problems within the areas of human resources, case management and community participation that needed to be improved. The students formulated an intervention proposal, based on the situational analysis, for the Regional Bureau of Health in Iquitos, which was presented at graduation ceremony to a panel attended by the Director of DIRESA Loreto, Dr. Hugo Rodriguez.

This is a successful effort of institutional strengthening of triangular cooperation of South-North-South, in the framework of the Global Health Initiative, supported by a public-private partnership, where experiences and knowledge were exchanged between Africa and America.

Models of cervical cancer prevention

2011-06-21T14:18:00.001-07:00

This panel explores various studies and interventions to explore and address the burden of cervical cancer from the community-based to the national level. Presentations include: an integrated Cervical Cancer Prevention and Control program in Mozambique; a study assessing the feasibility of developing effective cervical cancer prevention programs for women in remote coffee-farming communities by improving access to services through community-based outreach and facilitation, and the development of Single Visit Approach (SVA) services in local clinics; a feasibility study of the integration of cervical cancer screening consultations into the practice of primary care physicians that also explores if consultation is associated with increased patient knowledge/favorable attitudes about screening; an initiative to foster regional Training Excellence Centers (TECs) in Latin America where carefully selected service providers are trained in visual inspection with acetic acid (VIA) and cryotherapy using validated training materials and then serve as master trainers and support implementation of services.

Speakers:

Moderator: TBD

Carla Silva Matos, Ministry of Health, Mozambique; Establishment of a cervical cancer prevention program as a component of comprehensive reproductive health services: the experience of Mozambique
Jose Jeronimo, PATH; Implementation of training excellence centers for cervical cancer prevention in Peru
August Burns, Grounds for Health; The single visit approach to cervical cancer prevention: a demonstration model for effective, sustainable implementation in rural communities
Meenu Anand, American Cancer Society; Cervical cancer in India: partnering with primary care physicians in a community‐based demonstration project to address a public health problem

View available presentations:
August Burns | presentation
Carla Silva Matos | presentation
Jose Jeronimo | presentation
Meenu Anand | presentation

The changing face of malaria in maternal health

2011-06-21T13:59:00.001-07:00

WHO's three-pronged approach says that pregnant women in stable malaria transmission areas should receive: an insecticide-treated net, intermittent preventive treatment, and prompt and appropriate treatment for malaria. Malaria incidence has dropped precipitously in some African countries. As countries consider changing strategies, the question remains whether capabilities are in place to detect and treat MIP, especially asymptomatic placental infections. This panel addresses four key issues for malaria in maternal health as efforts increase toward malaria elimination and the epidemiology of malaria changes.

Speakers:

Moderator: William Brieger, Jhpiego
Enobong Ndekhedehe, Community Partners for Development; Community involvement to increase IPTp & ITN coverage in a highly endemic area
Corine Karema, Ministry of Health, National Malaria Control Program; Feasibility of determining the prevalence of MIP during ANC
Theonest Mutabingwa, Hubert Kairuki Memorial University, Tanzania; The future MIP research agenda in the context of malaria elimination
John Eric Tongren, President's Malaria Initiative, USAID; PMI’s perspective on MIP programming in countries with changing malaria epidemiology

Global Health Council

Global Health Council opens 38th annual international conference in Washington

2011-06-17T13:29:00.001-07:00

2,000 participants from 70 countries expected to attend the world's largest global health conference not focused on a single issue and discuss securing a healthier future in a changing world read more…

Quality Assurance of Malaria Microscopy in Mali

2011-06-14T11:12:00.001-07:00

The Improving Malaria Diagnostics (IMaD) project assessed the sensitivity, specificity and agreement of microscopists and their supervisors against Mali’s national referral laboratory, INRSP as gold standard. Low agreement between microscopists and gold standard was mainly due to low specificity, the former may be reporting stain precipitate and other artifacts as malaria parasites. Supervisors help identify what improvements they can introduce (i.e. filtering Giemsa stain) to reduce false positives. As a group, laboratory supervisors need to improve their sensitivity, while as a group microscopists must improve both their specificity and sensitivity. In the Venn diagram, the black square represents at scale the total number of slides used for external quality assurance, the blue circle represents slides reported as positive by INRSP, the red circle represents slides reported as positive by laboratory supervisors re-reading slides, and the green circle corresponds to slides reported as positive by microscopists. Eighty percent of false positives for supervisors overlapped the lab staff’s false positives, suggestive that some supervisors may not have been blind to staff results, which influenced their reports.

OTSS Accomplishments in Benin - IMaD

2011-05-13T12:33:00.001-07:00

Rowe et al (Lancet 2005;366:1026-35) had suggested that “supervision and audit with feedback is generally effective” in achieving and maintaining high-quality performance of health workers in low-resource settings. IMaD conducts regular supervisory visits to a select sample of health facilities in Benin. In FY2010 IMaD visited a group of 60 health facilities 3 times each. Due to the staggared approach taken by IMaD for scaling up the number of facilities included in the intervention, only 36 of the 60 health faciities have been visited 4 times by the end of FY2010. During each round of supervisory visits, IMaD supervisors, who were previously trained in health facility evaluations and evaluated for malaria microscopy competency, collect information on the current state of health facility practices as they pertain to malaria diagnostics and treatment. During these visits the supervisors are also expected to provide on-the-job training for individual staff members should there be deficiencies in their performance conducting routine diagnostic procedures (e.g., malaria slide preparation, staining and reading), general laboratory practices (e.g., record keeping, stock issues, QA/QC schemes) or treatment of malaria (e.g., discussion of proper treatment). In FY2010 IMaD supervisors provided training to 100, 280, 234 and 137 laboratory staff and 83, 233, 137 and 84 clinical staff during the 1^st, 2^nd, 3^rd, and 4^th supervisory visits, respectively. Supervisors provide comments and feedback to health facility staff during each visit and suggest methods of improving specific practices when necessary. Maintaining continuity with respect to the cadre of supervisors routinely conducting the visits ensures accountability among the health facility staff to improve performance while fostering a reliable system of support at the same time. The following images show aggregate facility performance in malaria microscopy (staining and reading of malaria slides) as well as malaria treatment (prescriber adherence to negative malaria tests). For these particular data series, if IMaD interventions are positively received, one would expect to see an increase in the height of the bars for microscopy performance as the rounds of outreach progress and a decrease in the height of the bars for the proportion of health facilities prescribing antimalarials to patients with negative tests (which is, alternatively, a measure of prescriber adherence to malaria laboratory tests).

Video: Tackling Malaria through Private Sector Partnerships

2011-04-27T11:27:00.001-07:00

Falling on World Malaria Day, this panel discussed the role of the private sector in the ongoing fight against malaria in the developing world. A distinguished panel of health and private sector professionals analyzed projects like those being implemented in Equatorial Guinea and assessed what lessons were learnt and can be applied in other contexts, specifically through this unique public-private partnership model.

Panel (From left to right): Dr. Luis Benavente [MCDI], Dr. Michel Slotman [Texas A&M] Dr. Chris Schwabe [MCDI], Dr. Adel Chaouch [Marathon Oil], Jennifer Cooke [Moderator from CSIS]

The presentation can be found here

Source: http://csis.org/multimedia/video-tackling-malaria-through-private-sector-partnerships

World Malaria Day 2011: Achieving Progress and Impact

2011-04-26T10:14:00.001-07:00

This year's World Malaria Day theme---"Achieving Progress and Impact"---highlights recent successes in efforts to and causes global partners to take stock of what needs to be done to to reach near zero deaths by 2015.

Success and Challenges

In the last 10 years, funding has increased and many partners have stepped up efforts and joined together to scale up life-saving malaria interventions, especially in Africa.

For example, by the end of 2010, enough insecticide-treated bed nets (ITNs) had been delivered to sub-Saharan Africa to cover three-quarters of the 765 million people living in areas where malaria is transmitted.

Increased efforts and funding have led to progress and impact...more

Increased adherence to negative malaria test results in Benin

2011-04-22T09:27:00.001-07:00

Previous studies http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10403337 have shown that clinicians often prescribe antimalarials to individuals with negative malaria tests.

Supportive supervisions done in Benin by NMCP and IMaD, USAID flagship for malaria diagnosis, show a reduction in the proportion of health facilities treating most patients with a negative malaria tests with antimalarials:

Many clinicians still write a prescription at the same time as a laboratory request because turnaround time is several hours long, rural patients won’t wait or won’t return for follow-up visits. Clinicians feel withholding antimalarials will put patients coming from remote villages at risk of dying.

IMaD will continue working to increase quality and timeliness of tests and the utilization of tests results in making therapeutic decisions.

Voices from the field

2011-02-10T09:10:00.001-08:00

OUTREACH TRAINING AND SUPPORTIVE SUPERVISION FOR MALARIA DIAGNOSTICS

The National Malaria Control Program (NMCP) and the Ghana Health Service (GHS) realize that it is essential to deploy a comprehensive quality assurance program for malaria diagnosis and treatment, which includes use of microscopy an mRDTs, for diagnosis and improved fever management based on diagnostic results…more

Outreach Training and Supportive Supervision for Malaria Diagnostics

2011-01-24T11:57:00.001-08:00

The National Malaria Control Program (NMCP) and the National Public Health Laboratory (NPHL) in Malawi realize that it is essential to deploy a comprehensive quality assurance program for malaria diagnosis and treatment, which includes use of microscopy and mRDTs, for diagnosis and improved fever management based on diagnostic results. In September 2010, the MOH, with support from the Improving Malaria Diagnostics (IMaD) Project, launched a quality assurance program that embraced both clinical and diagnostic aspects of malaria management by introducing the Outreach Training and Supportive Supervision (OTSS) program in 60 health facilities comprising 16 districts….MORE

Angola’s First WHO Malaria Microscopy Accreditation Course

2011-01-24T11:25:00.001-08:00

On the week of September 13^th- 17^th, 2010, in close collaboration with the National Institute of Public Health and National Malaria Control Program, and with support from the USAID/PMI Mission of Angola, IMaD conducted the first ever Lusophone WHO Malaria Microscopy Accreditation Course (MMAC). Held in the capital, Luanda, twelve national expert microscopists participated in this exciting course designed to identify participant’s strengths and weaknesses in malaria microscopy….MORE

Integration and Capacity Building with BIMCP II

2011-01-07T11:11:00.001-08:00

MCDI visit to training site in Mexico. In preparation for the training of the newly recruited officers, the outgoing and the incoming Deputy Project Managers visited the Instituto Nacional de Salud Pública in México (INSP-México). The visit allowed MCDI to meet the INSP team, and visit both their training site in Cuernavaca and the site that will eventually be used for the student’s field work. The principal outcomes of the visit included:

Review of student housing options and preliminary discussions on safety, health insurance and life insurance provisions, issues pertaining to the students’ general wellbeing (mentoring, cultural exchange, and sports), rules and responsibilities, and exposure to ample and practical field experiences.
Finalization of pending operational issues prior to MCDI’s signature of the contract with the INSP-México.
Assessment of classrooms, conference-rooms, libraries, laboratories; computer/internet facilities, cafeterias, sport facilities via visits to the INSP -México campuses in Cuernavaca and Mexico City.
Visits to field sites where project activities will take place to become familiar with the situation on the ground.
Information exchange on the planned visit by a team from the INSP to Equatorial Guinea.

Between August 9 and 15 2010, three lecturers from the INSP-México, Dr. Angel Francisco Betanzos Reyes (Lecturer-Program Coordinador), Dr. Armando Ulloa García (Lecturer, Entomology) and Dr. Jorge F. Méndez Galván (Lecturer-Researcher ), visited Equatorial Guinea. Some of the highlights of their visit included:

An assessment of the local context via meetings, interviews and field observations including visits to hospitals, health centers and communities.

l-r: Jorge F. Mendez-Galvan, Denise L Harrison, Angel Francisco Betanzos Reyes, Leonor Ada, Armando Ulloa Garcia , Dr. Gloria Nseng, Victor Mba, Maria-Cecelia Engono, Raul Nguema, Dr. Martin Eka, Javier Nve

Information exchange with MCDI program staffs from the BIMCP and the EGMCI on the Continent.
Interviews with the 8 new NMCP personnel (students) and with MSBS authorities.
Analysis of multiple documents, publications and data provided by MCDI and by the Director of the NMCP.

New NMCP officers visit MCDI offices in Silver Spring en route to Mexico. The eight new NMCP officers travelled to Silver Spring MD and Washington DC on August 30, 2010 for an intensive one week orientation prior to traveling on to Cuernavaca, Mexico. During this week the students visited the Marathon and MCDI Headquarters, the Embasssy of Equatorial Guinea, the Consulate of Mexico and the Capitol Hill office of US Senator from the State of Maine, Olyimpia Snowe. Following these initial visits MCDI organized a series of malaria-specific visits to the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) and the President’s Malaria Initiative/USAID offices. In addition, the orientation program included a tour of historic sites in Washington. Highlights of the visits included:

A memorable welcoming dinner hosted by Dr. Adel Chaouch, Director of Corporate Social Responsibility for Marathon Oil. The relevance of the training and the high expectations the country has for the trainees on their return to EG were underlined.
A meeting with Her Excellency the Ambassador of EG in Washington, Ms. Purificacion Angue Ondo, to explain the seriousness of their training visit to Mexico and to ratify the student’s commitment to the Program through the signature of an agreement between the Ambassador and the students.
A visit to Senator Snow’s office to expose the group from EG to the US Senate and the interest it has in global health, sharing with the Senator’s staff information about the BIMCP and the role that a Maine organization (MCD) plays in its success, and highlighting the support that MCDI gets from Marathon Oil in support of the project.

L-r: Martin Eka Ondo Mangue, Pablo Aguilar Alcalá, Javier Nve Adjaba E., Magdalena Serpa, Victor Mba Micha A., Raul Nguema Nkogo O., Excm. Purificación Angue O. Embajadora de GE en EUA , Teodosia Evuna Ayetebe, Maria C. Engono Nguema, Epifanio Bula Malest, Leonor Ada Okenve, Chris Schwabe, Adel Chaouch, Joseph Carter

A presentations on the history, achievements and plans for the future of BIMCP I and II, with emphasis in the integration plan/empowerment of NMCP to manage and implement interventions and activities that are now being managed with extensive external technical assistance provided by the BIMCP.
Presentations on the plans for training in Mexico including on the context, objectives; performance expectations, performance monitoring, communications, code of conduct, and the implications of not following rules, or maintaining an acceptable level of academic performance.
Visit to PAHO and to USAID’s President’s Malaria Initiative to familiarize the students with the history and current state of malaria control in the Americas and Africa.

New NMCP officers travel to Mexico. The eight new NMCP officers travelled to Mexico on September 4 accompanied by Dr. Serpa, the BIMCP Deputy Program Manager. After settling into their housing and meeting the staffs of the INSP, they began classes on September 6. The first 3 months of the program will focus on general knowledge pertaining to public health and malaria control. This will be based on course work in Cuernavaca and Mexico City and short field visits.

Special focus on health, safety and security. MCDI has worked with the INSP and Marathon Oil to ensure that the health, safety and security concerns of the students is fully addressed. Each student has been enrolled in a private health insurance scheme that is being financed by the BIMCP and a detailed safety and security protocol and procedures have been put in place and reviewed with the students. Periodic reinforcement of these guidelines will be undertaken with the students as a preventive measure. Special arrangements have also been made for visits outside Cuernavaca in order to ensure that the safety and security of the students is assured. These procedures have been reviewed and approved by Marathon and the INSP.

IMaD End of Year 2010 Update

2011-01-06T13:34:00.001-08:00

During 2010, IMaD expanded activities and is now operational in 13 countries throughout sub-Saharan Africa. To date, IMaD has trained over 1200 laboratory staff, clinicians and health workers in diagnosis of malaria, RDT usage, Outreach Training and Support Supervision training, and data entry and analysis. An additional 38 Ministry of Health were sponsored by IMaD to participate in the WHO External Competency Assessment for Malaria Microscopists. IMaD, in collaboration with the local Ministries of Health, has also launched national quality assurance programs in 7 countries covering over 600 health facilities.

The third IMaD Annual Planning Meeting was conducted from December 6 -10, 2010 in Silver Spring, Maryland. Since IMaD began in 2007, IMaD staff and partners get together to review the year’s progress and way forward. Every year, In Country Coordinators (ICCs) that help to implement the IMaD programs in their respective countries attended. ICCs from Benin, Ghana, Liberia, Malawi, Mali, and Zambia as well as partners from AMREF and Hydas World Health were present. Representatives from the CDC and USAID/PMI Washington attended sessions on the 8th and 9^th of December.

Topics covered included:

-Country Overviews – each ICC presented on his or her experience in their respective country

-RDT Roll Out Plans

-Review of the IMaD Database, Checklist and other OTSS tools

-Strategies for Sustainability and Transition in IMaD countries

-Management and Finance Issues

-The Way Forward

MCDI would like to extend a note of appreciation to the IMaD In-Country Coordinators in Benin, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ghana, Liberia, Malawi, Mali and Zambia; our partners at the African Medical Research Foundation and Hydas World Health; and Professor Daouda Ndiaye and colleagues at the Université Cheikh Anta Diop. Without all of their valuable contributions, our success would have been impossible to achieve and sustain.

To view IMaD’s Quadfold Brochure click here…

MCDI’s Malaria Control Programs support the Millennium Development Goals

2010-09-23T11:53:00.001-07:00

MCDI’s Malaria Control Programs support the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) # 4, 6, and 8.

Goal #4: Reduce Child Mortality

Goal # 6: Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases

Goal #8: Develop a global partnership for development

Improving Malaria Diagnostics (IMaD) Project – funded by USAID’s President’s Malaria Initiative
(2008-2012; Funding: $20 million) – MDG #6

MCDI and its partners were awarded a Cooperative Agreement by USAID at the end of September 2007 for $20 million over 5 years to Improve Malaria Diagnostics (IMaD) in the President’s Malaria Initiative (PMI) focus countries. This project is implemented by Medical Care Development International (MCDI) and consortium members; the African Medical and Research Foundation (AMREF) and Hydas World Health (HWH). The consortium also collaborates with the World Health Organization (WHO) on the development of standard protocols for the validation of national malaria slide archives, and certification programs for microscopists.

In accordance with individual country Malaria Operational Plans (MOPs), IMaD’s activities include:

1. Develop detailed plans for implementing, expanding, and improving laboratory-based diagnosis of malaria in Ministry of Health facilities.
2. Assist with importation and in-country logistics of PMI commodities in selected countries.
3. Develop training materials and train health workers in malaria diagnosis using microscopy/RDTs
4. Train health care providers and laboratory staff to implement national policies for diagnosis and treatment of malaria.
5. Monitor stocks of supplies and develop a reporting and procurement system for their replacement.
6. Develop a quality assurance plan for maintaining diagnostic quality over time.
7. Develop surge capacity to meet increased demand for diagnostic capabilities during malaria epidemics.

Major accomplishments to date include:

1173 people trained in laboratory diagnosis of malaria, RDT usage, OTSS training, data entry and analysis;
566 health facilities were visited during OTSS visits;
38 MOH staff participated in the WHO External Competency Assessment for Malaria Microscopists;
6 IMaD In-country Coordinators were hired and administrative partners identified;
Procurement of malaria laboratory equipment, supplies, and job aids was conducted in 6 countries

MDG GOALS 4, 6 and 8

MCDI is currently implementing two major national malaria control initiatives in Equatorial Guinea. Both of which contribute directly to Millennium Development Goals 4, 6 and 8.

The BIMCP II (Bioko Island Control Project) is a continuation of the first Marathon funded project which contributed significantly to the reduction of all cause under-5 child mortality. BIMCP II is committed to exploring the use of cutting edge technologies to achieve further results. The project will serve as a setting for the field trials of new IRS insecticide formulations, insecticide treated wall materials and possibly malaria vaccines. This integrated project incorporates IRS, case management, IPT, and LLIN bed-net utilization. In addition to reductions in under-5 mortality, the project has demonstrated the impact of public-private partnerships in contributing to poverty reduction. A major achievement of BIMCP II is the continued social welfare benefit that results from the diminished burden of disease attributable to malaria.

The United Nations MDG of a two thirds reduction in child mortality by 2015, has already been achieved in Bioko and the effective malaria control measures which are sustained over time, can play a key part in the achievement of this critical MDG. There has been a 65% reduction in under-5 mortality; it is estimated that approximately 5,000 lives were saved on Bioko Island as a result of the project.

EGMCI (Equatorial Guinea Malaria Control Initiative)

In the beginning of 2010 MCDI continued with the implementation of the EGMCI project funded by the Global Fund to fight AIDS, TB and Malaria (Global Fund). This project also uses an integrated strategy of IRS, case management, IPT, and LLIN utilization.

The objectives are: (1) to expand IRS to two mainland provinces; (2) to expand access and utilization of LLINs to two other mainland provinces; (3) to expand the use of Intermittent Preventive Therapy for pregnant women (IPTp)throughout the mainland; (4) to improve case management of both uncomplicated and severe malaria by using improved treatment protocols based on the provision of artemisenin combination therapy (ACT); and (5) to strengthen MOH capacity to plan, conduct, monitor and evaluate malaria control activities. The EGMCI has a very close and cooperative relationship with the BIMCP implemented with the support of MCDI on Bioko Island. There are considerable synergies and cooperation between both projects at operational, policy, and strategic levels.

MCDI achieved and in many cases surpassed our output indicators for year three. MCDI has maintained an A2 rating for last three quarters. The table below illustrates the output indicator targets and MCDI’s achievements.

Output Indicator	Target	Achieved
Sprayers trained in IRS	636	640
Structures Sprayed	560,000	633,200
Service Providers Trained	1722	2113
Children < 5 with severe malaria using thick blood smear or RDT	40%	70%
People trained in HIS data management	450	452
Impact Indicators
Parasitemia prevalence children < 5	45%	51%

Malaria Microscopy Competence in Liberia

2010-09-23T10:04:00.001-07:00

The Improving Malaria Diagnostics project (IMaD) is USAID’s flagship project for malaria diagnostics. IMaD assesses diagnostic capabilities and works to refine and adapt training materials, training plans, and quality assurance plans in conjunction with the NMCP and its partners. Consistent with this mandate, IMaD conducted two trainings aimed at improving malarial microscopy in Liberia in October of 2009 and February of 2010. The results of these trainings are outlined in this report…Malaria Microscopy Competence in Liberia.

APRIL 19, 2010: GBC, CAMA AND ROLL BACK MALARIA HOST A HIGH-LEVEL PRIVATE-SECTOR ROUNDTABLE FORUM AT THE NEW YORK STOCK EXCHANGE TO OUTLINE PRIORITIES FOR CORPORATE ACTION ON MALARIA

2010-08-12T14:03:00.001-07:00

Her Royal Highness Princess Astrid of Belgium, Special Representative for Roll Back Malaria, delivered the opening remarks that kicked off this special convening, thanking the private sector for its steadfast support to global malaria eradication efforts. Adel Chaouch, CAMA Chair and Director of Corporate Social Responsibility at Marathon Oil, chaired the focused discussion that followed. Guest speakers Prof. Awa Coll-Seck, Executive Director at Roll Back Malaria, presented the World Malaria Day 2010 Africa Update,…READ MORE…

Equatorial Guinea Malaria Program Reduces Infant Mortality by One Third

2010-07-26T10:11:00.001-07:00

Equatorial Guinea's (Republica de Guinea Ecuatorial) Malaria Control Project, a public-private partnership between theMinistry of Health and Social Welfare, Marathon Oil Corporation, and Medical Care Development International (MCDI) report a reduction in infant mortality in nearly a third of the population on the Island of Bioko. As part of this national program which includes intensive public information campaigns, the government has begun providing medicine and medical treatment for those infected, spraying, and distribution of free mosquito nets to pregnant women throughout the country.
Research carried out by the Malaria Control Project team on the Island of Bioko, funded by the government of Equatorial Guinea and a private consortium led by Marathon Oil Corporation, showed a reduction in infant mortality in nearly one third of the population. These results demonstrate an increase in child survival after four years of intensive malaria control, results that were recently showcased in the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. Equatorial Guinea's Island of Bioko has achieved the United Nation's Millennium Development Goals for the reduction of child mortality by 2015 far ahead of schedule.
The government's national malaria program includes free treatment for patients that test positive for malaria infection, with special attention paid to pregnant women since they face higher risk, distribution of government sponsored insecticide-treated mosquito nets and preventative treatments against malaria. This is part of a broader effort by the government and the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare to improve public health for its citizens.
Prevention plays a very important role in the fight against malaria; the government has launched a free mass spraying of houses on the Island of Bioko and more than half of the continental area, with plans to spread across the whole region. Further, as part of the public information campaigns, teams distribute informative brochures, leaflets and talk to people about prevention measures.
The Malaria Control Project is a fundamental part of the government-wide effort to meet all the Millennium Development Goals set by United Nations.

Taken from http://equatorialguineainfo.blogspot.com

The Fight Against Malaria in Africa: Progress Made and Challenges Remaining

2010-01-29T13:19:00.001-08:00

On February 17th 2010, Dr. Adel Chaouch, Director of Corporate Social Responsibility for Marathon Oil Company, will be presenting at Chatam House….

“More people die as a result of malaria in sub-Saharan Africa than any other part of the world, and most of these deaths are among children under the age of five. Malaria is a major impediment to development and costs the African economy billions of dollars each year, despite being a preventable and treatable disease. A number of organizations have been working to significantly reduce the prevalence of malaria with initiatives, such as the Roll Back Malaria Partnership and the World Health Organization's Global Malaria Programme. At this event the speakers will discuss the progress that has been made in the fight against malaria and the key challenges that slow or prevent progress.”

Click here for more info.

Year 2 BIMCP II Review and Planning Meeting London Feb 7 – 9, 2010

2010-01-29T11:22:00.000-08:00

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Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E)

2009-12-23T09:48:00.000-08:00

MCDI has developed and is currently implementing a rigorous and extensive M&E program to track results and document the impact of the BIMCP and EGMCI projects. This includes monitoring any changes in mosquito populations and sporozoite rates as IRS is implemented, testing and documenting the continuing effectiveness of insecticides chosen for IRS, establishing and following any changes in malaria parasitemia and anemia rates in children and pregnant women associated with the IRS campaign, and tracking reported malaria cases though government health facilities as noted above. This comprehensive M&E system was set up with Ministry of Health participation to include periodic annual household surveys to track results and measure impact, improve supervision of health facility staff, and improve data entry. It includes data management and feedback to facilities through the routine MOH health information system, and a complete drug management system that includes purchasing, logistics, and monitoring for proper prescribing practices and use. In addition, through its extensive work implementing child survival programs in a number of countries, MCDI has experience gathering information, designing programs, and developing M&E systems based on a proven methodology of community knowledge, practice, and coverage (KPC) surveys that are used to establish baselines and monitor progress over time.

Behavior Change Communications (BCC)

2009-12-17T08:35:00.000-08:00

MCDI developed comprehensive BCC approaches in a number of countries that include radio spots and short programs, pictorial job aids (flipcharts, posters), pictorial reminder materials for caretakers (on ACT doses and schedules), information, education and communication (IEC) materials promoting IRS, and educational games and scripts for use in community drama presentations. Materials were improved with feedback from focus groups of users and health providers. In Benin, Madagascar and Equatorial Guinea, MCDI developed IEC materials, training curricula, and supervisory systems to improve the recognition of malaria signs and symptoms at household level, promote better and timelier care-seeking behavior, and improving the quality of treatment at facility and community levels. In BIMCP, sprayers, reaching all communities and most homes, were trained to provide face-to-face education to mothers to increase awareness on prevention, early detection and care seeking behavior, and better household care practices for treatment of fever.

Case Management

2009-12-16T09:16:00.000-08:00

Under BIMCP, MCDI managed the production of drug management protocols, training materials to support timely and proper treatment of malaria at all levels, inventory management systems, storage and distribution protocols, logistics management plans, and supervisory protocols for quality control of case management at health facility level. In addition, MCDI worked with the National Malaria Control Program (NMCP) and other partners to successfully introduce the use of artemisinin combination therapy (ACT) to replace chloroquine as the first line anti-malarial on Bioko Island. Data from sentinel survey sites in 2006 showed a reduction of 63% in malaria incidence among oil workers and a 69% reduction in malaria reported among children under the age of five. Health facility surveys demonstrated that over 90% of health providers were dispensing an effective anti-malarial at the correct dosage following the materials development and training. Finally, with support from the EGMCI project, MCDI provided technical assistance to the NMCP to plan for a roll out of a new ACT for first-line treatment throughout the country.

Under the President’s Malaria Initiative (PMI), in late 2007, MCDI was awarded a Cooperative Agreement as leader of a consortium to implement the Improving Malaria Diagnostics (IMaD) project. IMaD is a 5-year, $20 million program funded by USAID to cooperate with 15 Sub-Saharan African countries to improve laboratory-based diagnosis of malaria at primarily Ministry of Health facilities, and increase understanding, acceptance and use of rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs) by laboratory staff and health care practitioners providing direct care to patients. Regional activities in the Amazon basin and the Mekong delta may be included as well, if requested. Malaria treatment that is based on quality malaria diagnostics reduces mortality as well as costs, and minimizes the risk of developing drug resistance. Work began in ten PMI countries in 2008, and will expand into five more in future years.

Specific activities supported under IMaD include: 1) develop detailed plans for implementing, expanding, and improving laboratory-based diagnosis of malaria in Ministry of Health facilities; 2) assist with importation and in-country logistics of PMI commodities in selected countries; 3) develop training materials and train health workers in malaria diagnosis using microscopy/RDTs; 4) train health care providers and laboratory staff to implement national policies for diagnosis and treatment of malaria; 5) monitor stocks of supplies and develop a reporting and procurement system for their replacement; 6) develop a quality assurance plan for maintaining diagnostic quality over time; and 7) develop surge capacity to meet increased demand for diagnostic capabilities during malaria epidemics.

Distribution of Long Lasting Insecticide Treated Bed-nets (LLINs)

2009-12-16T09:01:00.000-08:00

MCDI has managed the procurement and distribution of LLINs at the community level in Madagascar and Benin working with partners on social marketing and free distribution. Under the EGMCI project, MCDI purchased 164,000 nets, and to date has distributed approximately 146,608 nets on the EG mainland, with plans to distribute the rest during the next distribution round in 2010. In addition, MCDI has purchased and distributed close to 116,594 LLINs on Bioko Island under the BIMCP Project thereby exceeding the coverage rate achieved by all other African countries for which data are available. Emphasis in all these programs was to work through community distributors in both urban and rural areas. In rural areas specifically, coverage and accessibility to health facilities is limited. At the same time, a health facility-based distribution of approximately 2,000 nets will be targeted toward pregnant women and children under five on Bioko Island to ensure that as new children are born, they will also be covered. MCDI coordinated with the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), national chapters of the Spanish and Canadian Red Cross, as well as the local Red Cross Chapter in Equatorial Guinea to develop and implement an effective distribution plan and post-distribution monitoring strategy. Monitoring coverage with LQAS after the campaign proved that the campaign had achieved satisfactory coverage in all supervision areas under both the BIMCP and EGMCI projects. The BIMCP project has documented an additive, synergistic effect of the combined use of LLINs and IRS together.

MCDI Malaria Capabilities - Indoor Residual Spraying (IRS)

2009-12-02T08:31:00.000-08:00

MCDI’s experience from 2004 to date includes planning and managing a comprehensive indoor residual spraying program as part of the Bioko Island Malaria Control Project (BIMCP) in Equatorial Guinea (EG) with funding from Marathon Oil Company. The BIMCP completed eleven rounds of spraying by the end of 2009, covering more than 205,076 structures. Recent results in BIMCP from regular household surveys in sentinel sites of children under the age of 15 showed a continued reduction in the prevalence of parasitemia from 23% in 2007 to 18% in 2009. MCDI monitoring reveals that one malaria vector was reduced to 7% of pre-spray numbers after four rounds of spraying, and another vector was not found after the third round. MCDI worked with government and international partners on the appropriate choice of insecticide for IRS, including fulfilling environmental requirements, and establishing a system to monitor and respond to the development of insecticide resistance. Careful entomological monitoring organized by MCDI revealed emerging insecticide resistance to the first product, leading to a change in insecticide between the second and third rounds. The BIMCP recruits and trains spraying teams, and develops behavior change strategies and materials supportive of IRS. MCDI has procured all IRS-related equipment and commodities, including insecticides, spraying equipment, and survey-related materials and supplies for BIMCP. In addition, beginning in 2007, MCDI was designated as the Principal Recipient (PR) of a Global Fund grant under the Equatorial Guinea Malaria Control Initiative (EGMCI). The EGMCI project began spraying in one province on the EG mainland in 2007, and expanded to an additional province in 2008. If the Social Development Fund grant is approved, MCDI will expand spraying activities to all four provinces on the mainland.

MCDI Malaria Blog - Topics and Technical Updates

2009-12-01T08:42:00.000-08:00

MCDI has many years of experience assisting governments and working at community level in Equatorial Guinea (EG), Madagascar, Benin, Mozambique, and Belize to develop and implement comprehensive malaria control programs. This includes working through government systems and using community outreach to incorporate malaria control into existing child survival programs (the Integrated Management of Childhood Illness – IMCI approach), as well as more direct malaria control interventions. In addition, MCDI chairs the malaria working group of CORE (a consortium of non-governmental organizations working in child survival) that coordinates the adoption of appropriate policies and development of state-of-the-art technical approaches to malaria control by its member organizations. To date, the CORE malaria working group has developed reference materials and guidelines to provide advice on areas such as behavior change, community case management, and prevention approaches. Finally, MCDI participates in the periodic planning discussions of the measles/malaria working group that works to coordinate combined programs of ITN distribution and measles vaccination in many countries.