- Advocacy
for malaria control at all levels and
particularly among government,
bilaterals, multilaterals, NGOs and
the private sector
- Regular
press releases and press conferences
- Collaboration
with the private sector in the
marketing of malaria interventions
- National
malaria awareness weeks
- Awareness
and proper understanding of malaria
within communities and their active
involvement in malaria control
- Definition
of minimum packages of malaria control
interventions at the household and
community levels
- Community
access to first-line anti malarial and
personal protection methods
- Community
health workers delivering malaria
control interventions
- Up-to-date
malaria IEC in school curricular and
extracurricular activities; and
school-based malaria control
interventions
- Sub
regional database on malaria IEC
materials
- Malaria
IEC and interventions for key risk
groups: under-fives, pregnant women,
the poor, tourists, travelers and
migrants
Introduction
Advocacy, IEC and community-based malaria
control are essential parts of effective
malaria control programmes.
Awareness of the burden of malaria needs
to be raised, particularly among national
and international partners. Likewise,
knowledge, attitudes and practices need to
be improved or changed, particularly among
the poor. Lastly, innovative entry points
and gatekeepers into communities need to
be identified and used. These may include
schools, religious organisations,
agricultural extension workers and
returning migrants.
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Advocacy
SAMC has been active in the area of
advocacy with a wide range of partners,
including multilaterals, bilaterals and
the private sector. Through high profile
meetings (such as the Heads of State
Meeting in Abuja), RBM has increased
advocacy for malaria control at the global
and regional levels. In Southern Africa,
SAMC and SADC have been advocating for
malaria control at ministerial level.
The RBM inception process within countries
has also increased advocacy, particularly
among national level partners at consensus
building meetings. SAMC has developed a
draft sub regional RBM advocacy strategy
which has been adapted by Botswana and is
currently being implemented.
The design and use of the SAMC logo has
increased the visibility of malaria
control at the sub regional level; while,
the production of a SAMC malaria control
Christmas card has also raised malaria's
visibility in the sub region and beyond.
Information Education
and Communication (IEC)
A desktop review of malaria awareness
weeks in the sub region has been done.
Malaria awareness weeks appear to have
limited impact and do not occur in all
countries within Southern Africa. Related
to this review, has been the establishment
of a malaria IEC database for Southern
Africa in order to monitor existing
malaria IEC materials produced in the sub
region.
The Malaria Manual: A Guide for
Community Health Workers is a WHO
publication. SAMC is supporting countries
to adapt and use it to increase knowledge
and awareness among basic health workers
and other community members. The manual
has been translated into Portuguese in
order for it to be used in Angola and
Mozambique. Mozambique is currently
finalising the artwork for the manual and
will then, with SAMC's support, print and
distribute it to health workers and
schools.
A series of 8 cartoons that examine key
areas of malaria prevention and treatment
have been prepared. Countries are being
supported _ notably Botswana, Mozambique
and Zimbabwe _ to adapt these cartoons and
use them as part of their IEC strategy,
particularly during malaria awareness
weeks.
A framework document has been prepared on
community-based malaria control. The
document considers the range of entry
points that can be used for
community-based initiatives and reviews
the range of interventions that can be
employed. The document will be finalized
shortly and distributed to countries.
- Protocol
for evaluating malaria IEC programmes
in terms of both process and outcome
indicators. The protocol have been
pretested in Zimbabwe and are
currently being finalized. Internal
and external travelers moving from
malaria-free to malarious areas are a
high risk group within the sub region.
With the Department of Community
Medicine, protocol have been developed
to determine the perception of risk of
malaria among different types of
travelers and prevention methods used.
The protocol have been pretested and
are now ready to use in other
countries.
- Moreover,
draft strategies for malaria control
among travelers have been
developed.Internal and external
travelers moving from malaria-free to
malarious areas are a high risk group
within the sub region. With the
Department of Community Medicine,
protocol have been developed to
determine the perception of risk of
malaria among different types of
travelers and prevention methods used.
The protocol have been pretested and
are now ready to use in other
countries. Moreover, draft strategies
for malaria control among travelers
have been developed.
A
number of press releases have been issued
by SAMC. These include regular press
releases on malaria and travel during peak
travel periods (Christmas and Easter) as
well as on malaria epidemics, the Malaria
Red Reference Initiative and Roll Back
Malaria. The press releases are issued to
news agencies throughout the sub region
and have been picked up by a number of
countries including Botswana, Namibia,
South Africa and Zimbabwe.
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School-based
malaria control
SAMC regards schools as an excellent entry
point for community-based malaria control
and, hence, a considerable amount of work
has been done in this area. After
consultations with a wide range of
partners, a school-based malaria control
framework document was prepared. The
framework document outlines the key
components of a school-based malaria
control programme and also discusses
planning and operational issues. The
document has been distributed to countries
and key partners.
Working with the former head of the
Curriculum Development Unit (Ministry of
Education) a set of generic malaria
education materials for use in schools in
Southern Africa has been developed. The
materials include interactive posters,
`malaria examples' workbooks, short
extracurricular malaria activities and
flash cards. The pretesting of the
materials (supported by Division of Health
Promotion WHO/HQ and RBM/HQ) is currently
being done.
Countries SAMC are actively working with
in school-based malaria control are
Mozambique (which has submitted a
school-based malaria control proposal),
Namibia (which is using malaria as a key
entry point in health-promoting schools)
and Zimbabwe (where the `school health
masters' programme is currently being
reviewed and malaria education materials
being pretested).
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The Way Forward
Activities for the Next 12 Months
1. The current momentum generated
by the Abuja Declaration needs to be
exploited and advocacy for malaria control
needs to be stepped up. All countries in
the sub region will be supported in
developing and implementing an advocacy
strategy that will run concurrently with
the RBM inception process. Meanwhile, at
the sub regional level, SAMC will continue
to raise the visibility of malaria control
and advocate for more commitment and
resources among key sub regional partners
including UN agencies, the World Bank, ADB
and bilateral agencies.
2. NMCPs will be supported in
strengthening school-based malaria control
activities. The RBM inception process, the
FRESH approach and the WHO
Health-promoting schools initiative will
all be opportunities to do this. The
school-based IEC materials will be
finalized and distributed to countries.
3. The community-based malaria
control framework document will be
finalized and countries will be supported
in developing their own strategies. The
malaria and travel strategy will be
finalized at the sub regional planning
meeting and sub regional malaria IEC
materials for travelers will be produced
and shared with countries. In addition,
countries will be supported in holding
national malaria awareness weeks
4. Regular press releases will
continue to be issued by SAMC and NMCPs
will be encouraged to also do this,
particularly as part of the RBM inception
process.
Constraints
1. Malaria advocacy and IEC are
often neglected or relatively weak areas
of NMCPs. Hence, considerable work is
needed to strengthen them. NMCPs
frequently do not have an IEC officer
while links with the Heath Education
Department are weak. The methods used for
advocacy and IEC need to become more
innovative and involves and adopt the
methods used in the private sector.
2. Within the sub region, there is
a multitude of school health programmes
and initiatives. Attempts at strengthening
school-based malaria control need to take
this into account and utilise existing
mechanisms and programmes. However, this
is a challenge as often these programmes
are relatively weak
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