MACEPA Learning Community

MACEPA is demonstrating that scaling up malaria prevention and control saves lives, reduces illness, and decreases the economic burden malaria exerts on affected communities. National ownership and strengthened planning, implementation, and monitoring and evaluation are central to this effort.  

WHAT'S NEW

Zambia’s 2008 malaria indicator survey demonstrates dramatic impact
Zambia’s malaria control efforts are saving lives and improving the health of the Zambian people, as evidenced by preliminary results from the country’s 2008 malaria indicator survey (MIS) that were announced the week of September 22. The survey, conducted at nearly 4,500 households across the country, demonstrated the effectiveness of the scale-up for impact approach, particularly in improving the distribution of insecticide-treated bednets (ITNs), expanding the reach of Zambia’s indoor residual spraying program (IRS), and providing preventive medicine and treatment for the most vulnerable. Most significant was the proven impact on Zambia’s children: bednet use in children under age five years has risen 31.5% since 2002, and malaria parasitic prevalence in this same group was reduced by 50% in only two years. Other significant findings include a 60% decrease in the number of cases of moderate to severe anemia, two-thirds of the country now being covered by an ITN or IRS, and 80% of pregnant women receiving at least one dose of preventive medicine. This news came shortly after the release of information from the 2007 Demographic and Health Survey, which showed a 29% decrease in child mortality since 2002, meaning nearly 75,000 lives were saved in five years. For more information about the MIS, please read the press release on the NMCC website. 

Record global commitments made to tackle malaria

World leaders participating in a 2008 Millennium Development Goals Malaria Summit during the week of September 25 endorsed an ambitious new Global Malaria Action Plan and committed US$3 billion toward its implementation aimed at reducing malaria deaths by 50% by 2010 and saving an estimated four million lives by 2015. The plan, launched by the Roll Back Malaria Partnership with broad support from a united malaria community, is the first consensus-based global malaria control plan intended to eliminate malaria country by country in Africa, Asia-Pacific, the Americas, the Middle East, and Eurasia.

Learning together at the Malaria Indicator Survey Training Workshop

The first malaria indicator survey (MIS) training workshop of its kind that brought together 27 participants from 13 African countries was held in Lusaka, Zambia, this September. Sponsored by MACEPA and implemented by the Roll Back Malaria Partnership (RBM) Monitoring and Evaluation Reference Group, the workshop guided participants through the process of planning, implementing, and analyzing an MIS and provided ample opportunities for discussion and shared learning. Participants’ feedback was very positive, and RBM hopes to hold a similar workshop next year.

MACEPA publishes articles in AJTMH

Kent Campbell, MACEPA program director, and Rick Steketee, MACEPA director of science, have both recently published open-access articles in the American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. Kent’s article, entitled “Halting the Toll of Malaria in Africa,” discusses the recent rise in global commitment and funding for malaria control in Africa, the prospects for malaria elimination and eventual eradication, and the implications they pose for the future. Rick’s article, entitled “National Malaria Control and Scaling Up for Impact: The Zambia Experience through 2006,” documents the experiences and progress of malaria control scale-up efforts in Zambia since 1998.

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Photo by David Jacobs.