Highlights of the year 2016-17

Goal 1: Guide national and international policies and strategies to accelerate and enhance control over the elimination of targeted diseases and malnutrition.

• By maintaining our presence in key partnerships and working groups linked to policy and advocacy, we continue to ensure change in policy and practice to end malaria, neglected tropical diseases and malnutrition. At the international level, we are engaged in the reformation of the Roll Back Malaria Partnership. We are members of the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Malaria Policy Advisory Committee and Vector Control Working Group and continue to serve on the WHO Drug Resistance Containment Technical Expert Group, which is guiding global strategies on tackling the threat of artemisinin resistance.

• We partner with Ministries of Health in each country, and work with local advocacy partners in endemic areas. This year, new partnerships were formed with the Carter Centre Coalition against Malaria in Ethiopia, and with NAIMA + in Mozambique.

• Where appropriate, we work with the private sector to establish sustainable channels for delivery of public health and ensure clear, regulated contributions. We also work with the commercial sector internationally, especially to assess new public health products which may support the next generation of interventions to be built into policy.

Read more highlights by downloading the PDF here.

Goal 2: To reach at least 10 million people (in the 2015-19 strategy period) with preventive treatment, supporting the appropriate uptake of emerging vaccines and drug-based prevention approaches

• In 2016, we received GiveWell top charity status recognising our work on seasonal malaria chemoprevention (SMC) – an intervention approved by the WHO to prevent malaria during high transmission periods.

• In the Sahel region in sub-Saharan Africa, 25 million children ages 3-59 months are eligible for SMC. Since 2015, we have led a partnership, funded by UNITAID, to scale-up SMC in seven countries in the Sahel. In the 2016 rainy season, we reached over 6.4 million children with the full treatment and saw presentation of fever at clinics drop by 65 percent. This saw a reduction of millions of malaria cases and saved an estimated 40,000 deaths. SMC has now generated significant interest from international donors and local governments.

• In addition to malaria, we have sought to expand mass drug administration for various neglected tropical diseases (NTDs). This year, in Central Equatoria, South Sudan, we rolled-out treatment for worm infections in nearly 170,000 children. We continue to explore approaches that work – in Mozambique, we conducted research that showed the positive effect of community dialogues on the uptake of available treatment for schistosomiasis. In Ethiopia we piloted an integrated malaria, schistosomiasis and soil-transmitted helminth approach in schools.

Goal 3: To engage in at-scale delivery of effective vector control interventions and develop, investigate, promote and implement novel, vector-focused approaches that reduce disease transmission

• Large-scale distribution of long-lasting insecticidal nets remains one of the key, high-value interventions against malaria. This year, we worked with governments to distribute over 38 million nets. This included 16 million nets in the second universal net distribution in Uganda, 14 million nets in Niassa and Nampula provinces in Mozambique, and 6.5 million nets in Nigeria.

  In Cambodia, we have been implementing an integrated vector management programme for dengue control, which will provide significant insight on a number of diseases transmitted by the vector, the Aedes aegypti mosquito. We are also pushing forward the most appropriate technical interventions in the region through technical support to the Vector Control Working Group of the Asia Pacific Malaria Elimination Network.

Read more highlights by downloading the PDF here.

Goal 4: To improve access to, and the quality of services for the diagnosis and treatment of diseases and/or those that enhance child and maternal health

• We continue to support the widespread use of malaria rapid diagnostic tests alongside building parasitological diagnosis of malaria prior to treatment into countries’ protocols. On the diagnosis of pneumonia, we continued our evaluation of pneumonia diagnostic devices, this year testing a new automated aid that counts respiratory rate. We also started research in Nigeria to identify severe pneumonia in the community linked to the symptom of ‘chest in-drawing’.

  Integrated community case management (iCCM) of malaria, pneumonia and diarrhoea remains a key approach to reducing child mortality due to these diseases. In Mozambique, Nigeria, Uganda, South Sudan and Myanmar, we strengthened our experience of linking iCMM to community assessment of malnutrition and access to therapeutic feeding, directly or indirectly (iCCM+). This year, we were also delighted to have been chosen by the Dangote Foundation in Nigeria to be a partner on a major nutrition initiative, to commence later this year.

Read more highlights by downloading the PDF here.

Goal 5: To improve health system effectiveness and efficiency, through enhanced surveillance, outbreak response, referral, reporting, and capacity and market development

• Malaria Consortium has traditionally used malaria as an access point to support wider aspects of service delivery. As disease burden decreases and the thinking moves towards elimination, new tools and techniques need to be in place. In Mozambique, we have expanded a programme of technology-facilitated support to, and supervision of, community health workers through a digital strategy to strengthen health systems and community health delivery.

  Finally, in Uganda, we were delighted to be confirmed as the lead agency on a flagship USAID programme over five years. This work will help to save lives across the country by bringing malaria interventions to all aspects of the healthcare system, both community and facility-based services and both public and private sector.

Read more highlights by downloading the PDF here.