Tropical Health Matters

Today’s selection of abstracts and news looks at the role of the media in supporting malaria programs, mass treatment to prevent Imported malaria, problems managing malaria in pregnancy services, malaria research in Mali and health systems strengthening to support malaria control in Guinea. Follow links to read mor details.

GHS calls for media support to eradicate malaria

The media has a role in supporting malaria programs

The Ghana Health Service (GHS) has called on journalists to support the Service to deliver integrated health package through accurate messages towards malaria eradication in the country.“Also, we need your support to set malaria as a national development agenda. This will drive advocacy for political will, increase partnership, availability and accessibility of effective tool for prevention, diagnoses and treatment of malaria in all the vulnerable populations.”

Dr Anthony Adofo Ofosu, the Deputy Director General, GHS, said this at the launch of “Zero malaria starts with me” campaign in Accra.  The launch coincided with a sensitisation programme by the African Media and Malaria Research Network (AMMRN), the National Malaria Control Programme and the Speak Up African Organisation. The Deputy Director General said “It is the belief of the GHS that with effective engagement…we will be able to eradicate malaria from the country in the near future.”

Mass radical treatment of a group of foreign workers to mitigate the risk of re-establishment of malaria in Sri Lanka

Following malaria elimination, Sri Lanka was free from indigenous transmission for six consecutive years, until the first introduced case was reported in December 2018. The source of transmission (index case) was a member of a group of 32 migrant workers from India and the location of transmission was their residence reporting a high prevalence of the primary vector for malaria. Despite extensive vector control the situation was highly susceptible to onward transmission if another of the group developed malaria. Therefore, Mass Radical Treatment (MRT) of the group of workers for Plasmodium vivax malaria was undertaken to mitigate this risk.

The workers were screened for malaria by microscopy and RDT, their haemoglobin level assessed, and tested for Glucose 6 phosphate dehydrogenase deficiency (G6PD) using the Care Start RDT and Brewers test prior to treatment with chloroquine (CQ) 25 mg/kg body weight (over three days) and primaquine (PQ, based on G6PD test results) (0.25 mg/kg/day bodyweight for 14 days) following informed consent. All were monitored for adverse events. None of the foreign workers were parasitaemic at baseline screening.

Mass treatment may be an option in prevention of reintroduction settings for groups of migrants who are likely to be carrying latent malaria infections, and resident in areas of high receptivity. However, in the case of Plasmodium vivax and Plasmodium ovale, a more reliable and affordable point-of-care test for G6PD activity would be required. Most countries which are eliminating malaria now are in the tropical zone and face considerable and similar risks of malaria re-introduction due to massive labour migration between them and neighbouring countries. Regional elimination of malaria should be the focus of global strategy if malaria elimination from countries is to be worthwhile and sustainable.

Managing intermittent preventive treatment of malaria in pregnancy challenges: an ethnographic study of two Ghanaian administrative regions

Malaria in pregnancy (MiP) is an important public health problem across sub-Saharan Africa. The package of measures for its control in Ghana in the last 20 years include regular use of long-lasting insecticide-treated bed nets (LLINs), directly-observed administration (DOT) of intermittent preventive treatment with sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine (IPTp-SP) and prompt and effective case management of MiP. Unfortunately, Ghana like other sub-Saharan African countries did not achieve the reset Abuja targets of 100% of pregnant women having access to IPTp and 100% using LLINs by 2015.

This ethnographic study explored how healthcare managers dealt with existing MiP policy implementation challenges and the consequences on IPTp-SP uptake and access to maternal healthcare. Healthcare managers addressed frequent stock-outs of malaria programme drugs and supplies from the National Malaria Control Programme and delayed reimbursement from the NHIS, by instituting co-payment, rationing and prescribing drugs for women to buy from private pharmacies.

Some clients did not receive the recommended 5?+?doses of SP, others did not obtain LLINs early and some did not obtain treatment for MiP. Healthcare providers felt frustrated whenever they could not provide comprehensive care to women who could not afford comprehensive maternal and MiP care. For Ghana to achieve her goal of controlling MiP, the Ministry of Health and other supporting institutions need to ensure prompt reimbursement of funds, regular supply of programme drugs and medical supplies to public, faith-based and private health facilities.

Malaria prevention program continuation in Guinea

CRS Guinea is the Principal Recipient (PR) in Malaria prevention program continuation grant by the Global Fund for the new cycle of funding (NFM) (January 2021-December 2023). Community health is a top priority of the Ministry of Health as a primary strategy to increase accessibility and coverage to basic health services. Under the new Global Fund grant, the community health component will be expanded to six districts, in addition to two pilot districts, Kindia and Telimele. CRS will also support coordination with other donors, including World Bank, UNICEF, Gavi, European Union and the Guinea Ministry of Health to implement the national community health strategy in 12 health districts supported by Global Fund malaria project.

The United States and Mali Celebrate 60 Years of Friendship and Partnership

Thirty years ago, our National Institutes of Health created a Malaria Research and Training Center, which is now a component of the International Center for Excellence in Research in Mali. Until today, it serves as a reference center with over 700 Malian scientists and support staff who work on malaria and other infectious diseases. Together, we have dropped malaria prevalence rates in Mali by an astounding 60 percent since 2012.

The novel 2019 coronavirus, also known as COVID-19 and SARS-COV2, is casting a heavy shadow over the 2020 World Malaria Day. People are trying to remain upbeat declaring the tagline “zero malaria starts with me,” but nothing can hide the fear that the current pandemic will both disrupt the current delivery of essential malaria preventive and treatment services, but will have longer term impacts on malaria funding and our capacity to learn new ways to reach malaria elimination goals. As we can see in the graphic to the right, accessible, lifesaving, community-based services may be especially hard hit.

Another ironic image is the indoor residual spray (IRS) team member with a face mask needed for protection from the insecticides being sprayed. When will such teams be able to go back into homes? When can household members actually pack out their belongings so that spraying can commence? When will such masks not be needed for intensive care COVID-19 case management instead?

WHO is urging “countries to move quickly to save lives from malaria in sub-Saharan Africa” because “New analysis supports the WHO call to minimize disruptions to malaria prevention and treatment services during the COVID-19 pandemic.” This will be difficult in high burden countries like Nigeria that are already on lockdown with over 1,000 coronavirus cases detected already. Modeling by WHO and partners has projected, “Severe disruptions to insecticide-treated net campaigns and in access to antimalarial medicines could lead to a doubling in the number of malaria deaths in sub-Saharan Africa this year compared to 2018.”

The Global Malaria Program offers guidance for tailoring malaria interventions to the present circumstances. Great concern is drawn from previous epidemic situations when observing that, “it is essential that other killer diseases, such as malaria, are not ignored. We know from the recent Ebola outbreak in west Africa that a sudden increased demand on fragile health services can lead to substantial increases in morbidity and mortality from other diseases, including malaria. The COVID-19 pandemic could be devastating on its own – but this devastation will be substantially amplified if the response undermines the provision of life-saving services for other diseases.”

Specifically, GMP recommends that national malaria programs should ensure the following:

• a focal point for malaria is a member of the National COVID-19 Incident Management Team.
• continued engagement with all relevant national COVID-19 stakeholders and partners.
• continued access to and use of recommended insecticide-treated mosquito nets (ITNs)
• continuation of planned targeted indoor residual spraying (IRS)
• early care-seeking for fever and suspected malaria by the general population to prevent a spike in severe malaria
• access to case management services in health facilities and communities with diagnostic confirmation through rapid diagnostic tests [RDTs]
• treatment of confirmed malaria cases with approved protocols
• continued delivery of planned preventive services normally provided to specific target populations (SMC, IPTi, IPTp)
• the safety of all malaria personnel and their clients in the process of carrying out the above interventions

In editorial in the American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene by Yanow and Good address the damaging longer term impact of the present shutdown. “The impacts of research shutdowns will be felt long after the pandemic. Many scientists study diseases that do not share the same obvious urgency as COVID-19 and yet take a shocking toll on human life. For example, malaria infects more than 200 million people and takes the lives of nearly half a million people, mostly young children, each year.1 During laboratory closures and without clinical studies, there will be no progress toward treating and preventing malaria: no progress toward new drugs, vaccines, or diagnostics.”

The case for continuing malaria services to save hundreds of thousands of lives is not difficult to make. The actual implementation during lockdowns and quarantines is a management challenge. The importance of malaria testing to provide patients with appropriate care for the right disease is crucial. The question is whether in resource strapped endemic countries these decisions and management arrangements can be made in a timely fashion and for the long term whether the next generation of research can proceed with much needed new medicines and technologies.

The Demographic and Health Survey Program has recently released the 2018 Malaria Indicator Survey for Mozambique. Below is a summary of some of the key findings. These focus on access and use of insecticide-treated nets, intermittent preventive treatment in pregnancy and case management

While “82% of Mozambican households have at least one ITN, and half have at least one ITN for each two people,” these achievements do not reach universal coverage targets. That said, the ownership of at least one net by a household did increase from 51% in 2011 to the recent 82%. Likewise 23% of households met the universal coverage target of one net per two people in a household in 2011 compared to 51% in 2018. The pace of progress may appear good, but this must be seen in light of lack of growth in donor funding and greater calls for countries to assume more financial responsibility for disease control.

Of interest is the fact that net ownership is spread somewhat evenly over the economic class quintiles. Ideally we would want to see better ownership figures for the lower quintiles.

Households obtained their nets from three major sources. “Most ITNs (87%) were obtained in mass distribution campaigns, 4% in prenatal consultations (PNC) and 6% are purchased in stores or markets.” While the proportion getting their nets through PNC may roughly reflect the proportion of the population who are pregnant at a given time, the survey is not specifically a snapshot of this population in real time. Thus, one could question whether distribution of ITNs through routine health services is fully functioning.

Since it was noted that only half of households have the ideal number of ITNs to reach universal coverage of their members, it is not surprising that only, “69% of the population of households’ family members have access to an ITN. This means that 7 in every 10 people could sleep under an ITN if each ITN in a household were used by a maximum of two people.” On the positive side, this represents an approximate doubling of use of ITNs since 2011.

The survey further notes that those segments of the population traditionally viewed as “vulnerable” fared a bit better: “73% of children under 5 years and 76% of pregnant women slept under an ITN the night before investigation.” This too, represents a doubling from 2011. There is also geographical variation where it appears that the more rural provinces have higher rates of use.

It would appear that IRS is not a major component of malaria control. Household coverage with indoor residual spray “decreased from 19% in 2011 to 11% in 2015, and then increased to 16% in 2018.” Urban coverage (23%) of IRS in the twelve months prior to the survey is twice as high as the percentage in rural areas (12%).

Although still not meeting targets, Mozambique has seen major progress in providing IPTp for pregnant women. Over the period from 2011 to 2018 the proportion of pregnant women receiving even one dose rose from 37% to 85%. Since WHO has set targets for at least 3 monthly doses from the 13th week of pregnancy, Mozambique’s coverage of the third dose increased from 10% to 41% with wide variation among provinces.

UNICEF shared data from 2015 to show that 51% of pregnant women in Mozambique attended 4 PNC/ANC visits, implying that there are missed opportunities for achieving at least 3 doses of IPTp. Also, since more women are now getting the first dose of IPTp, hopefully more can also get an ITN at PNC.

These national surveys (MIS, DHS) are invaluable for assessing progress and planning what interventions need to be strengthened where and among whom. They also show that progress is slow, reinforcing global concerns that malaria elimination will still be a challenge by 2050.

Emmanuel Lesilwa, Goodluck Tesha, Jasmine Chadewa, Agnes Kosia, Zahra Mkomwa, Bayoum Awadhi, Gaudiosa Tibaijuka, Rita Noronha, Dunstan Bishanga, Lusekelo Njonge, Frank Chacky, Abdallah Lusasi, Ally Mohamed, Chonge Kitojo, and Erik Reaves presented a poster entitled “Use of Malaria Service and Data Quality Improvement (MSDQI) Tool in Cascaded Supervision Approach Improved Quality of Malaria Services – Experience from Mwanza, Tanzania” at the 68th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. Their findings are shared below.

Inadequate quality of malaria service and data has been one of the problems in Mwanza region due to high malaria prevalence, inadequate knowledge of supervisors and standardized supervision tool. In 2017, NMCP and stakeholders developed malaria services and data quality improvement (MSDQI) tool to guide supervisors. The tool comprises of seven modules addressing performance of Malaria Case Management with indicators weighted against a standard score. Any facility scoring below 50% of the overall score is deemed poorly performing, 50%-75% moderate and above 75% good performance.

What is Malaria Service and Data Quality Improvement (MSDQI)? It is a checklist to guide supportive supervision teams in evaluating the quality of malaria services at the health facility level. MSDQI helps with the:-

• Monitoring and evaluation
• Facility-based malaria performance indicators
• Provision of timely, accurate information and data for decision-making at district, regional, and national levels

In the attached graphs we present the Number of malaria test among OPD cases and the Number of malaria test among OPD cases which increased from 527,734 in 2016 to 1,241,990 in 2018 in Mwanza region. This resulted to the decrease of patients treated without malaria confirmatory test.

After intervention with MSDQI, there was a Decline in proportion of malaria cases clinically diagnosed and treated in Mwanza Regions reduced from 6.5% cases in 2016 to 0.1% cases in 2018

Good progress in IPTp2 and IPTp3 Coverage in Mwanza region was also documented. IPTp2 increased from 37.6% in 2016 to 72.3%, while PITp3 increased from 1.2% in 2016 to 48.5% in 2018.

There was Increased coverage of LLINs in pregnant women and infants.
Increased coverage of LLINs in Pregnant women went from 4.9% 2016 to 75.6% in 2018. Likewise that for Infants increased from 2.9% 2016 to 65% in 2018.

Several Lessons were Learned. Cascaded supervision approaches contribute to improved quality of malaria service provision and hence improved malaria indicators. The Way forward is to Continue using cascaded supervisors to improve quality of data and malaria services through MSDQI

*Affiliation: : USAID Boresha Afya Lake and Western Zone – PATH; USAID Boresha Afya Lake and Western Zone –Jhpiego; National Malaria Control Programme-Tanzania Ministry of Health, Community Development, Gender, Elderly and Children, Tanzania; US President’s Malaria Initiative-United States Agency for International Development

This presentation was made possible by the generous support of the American people through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The contents are the responsibility of the USAID Boresha Afya and do not necessarily reflect the views of USAID or the United States government

Zipporah Wandia,* Jasmine Chadewa, Agnes Kosia, Goodluck Tesha, Lusekelo Njoge, Zahra Mkomwa, Dunstan Bishanga, Rita Noronha, Bayoum Awadhi, Gaudiosa Tibaijuka, Chonge Kitojo, Erik Reaves, and Abdallah Lusasi presented a poster entitled “Improved Uptake of Malaria in Pregnancy Indicators: A Case from USAID Boresha Afya project, Lake & Western Zone, Tanzania” at the 68th Annual meeting of the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. Their findings are seen below.

Magnitude of Malaria in Pregnancy: Malaria in pregnancy (MiP) has been recognized as a major public health concern. It is contributing to poor maternal and newborn health outcomes. In Sub-Saharan Africa, up to 20% of stillbirths are attributable to MiP and contributes to an estimated 10,000 maternal deaths and 100,000 infant deaths each year (Desai M. ter Kuile et al 2018).

Tanzania implements a three-pronged approach to prevent the adverse effect associated with MiP as recommended by WHO including 1)Intermittent preventive treatment of malaria in pregnancy (IPTp) with sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine, 2) Use of long-lasting insecticide-treated bed nets (LLINs), and 3) Strengthened Case management with Prompt diagnosis and treatment.

USAID Boresha Afya Lake and Western Zone Project supports Ministry of Health through the National Malaria Control Program to implements its strategies targeted to improve MiP in seven project supported regions. The Project uses the malaria data dashboard to identify facilities with gaps through:

• Malaria Service Data Quality Improvement (MSDQI)
• Supportive supervision
• On job training and mentorship to capacitate health care providers to provide quality MiP services to improve indicators performanc

Results: USAID Boresha Afya Project in collaboration with the National Malaria Control Program(NMCP) and involvement regional and council health management teams improved uptake of IPTp and MiP indicators in seven regions supported by the project
Improved documentation in Health Management Information System Book 6  and the Antenatal care (ANC) register used in Tanzania’s health facilities. Quarterly follow-up and mentorship for health care workers at ANC were completed between 2016–2018 in 1817 (100%) health facilities.

Uptake of both IPTp2 and IPTp3 increased steadily as seen in the two graphs. The increase between 2016 and 2019 was from 50% to 80% for IPTp2. IPTp3 increased 0 to 63%. General support to antenatal care where IPTp is given resulted in an increase in those women attending for the first time in their first trimester: 15% to 34% over the same time period.

Testing of pregnant women for malaria rose from 75% to 99%. During the period an average of 10% of women tested positive and were given appropriate malaria treatment.

Lessons Learnt: The improvements in MiP indicators in the Project supported regions is partly attributed to:

• Commitment among health care workers
• Mentorship and proper documentation
• Improved the overall quality of ANC services in the supported regions

*Affiliation: USAID Boresha Afya Project – Jhpiego Tanzania; USAID Boresha Afya Project – Path Tanzania; National Malaria Control Programme-Tanzania Ministry of Health, Community Development, Gender, Elderly and Children, Tanzania; US President’s Malaria Initiative-United States Agency for International Development

This presentation was made possible by the generous support of the American people through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The contents are the responsibility of the USAID Boresha Afya and do not necessarily reflect the views of USAID or the United States government.

The Demographic and Health Survey for 2018 in Nigeria has released preliminary findings. These cover insecticide Treated Nets (ITNs), Intermittent Preventive Treatment of malaria in pregnancy (IPTp), and treatment of children with Artemisinin-Based Combination Therapy (ACT).

The key findings have been converted into graphs.  We can see that ITN ownership by a household (HH) is greater in rural areas, but overall reaches only a national average of 60% of households having at least one net. People may recall that the 2010 target by the Roll Back malaria Partnership was 80% for all key indicators with the hope that by attaining and then maintaining 80% coverage or more, malaria incidence would drop and elimination would be on the horizon.

Nigeria is not among WHO’s Elimination by 2020 (E2020) countries, and it is not clear when transmission will move in that direction when key interventions are still not reaching targets. This is due also to the fact that 60% of households covered does not mean that residents are protected. In fact only 30% meet the goal of universal net coverage with at least one net for every two household members.

On the positive side, comparison of household net ownership and wealth status appears to favor the poorer households. 72% of the poorest households have at least one net compared to 48% of the highest income quintile.  Unfortunately the gap between rich and poor narrows when it comes to the target of 1 net for 2 people.

Although these days we stress universal coverage of all household members, DHS still collects data on what are often termed ‘vulnerable’ groups, children below the age of 5 years and pregnant women.  Just over half of each group slept under an ITN the night before the survey. It is obvious that access plays a role, so in those households that actually own at least one net 74% of children and 82% of pregnant women slept under an ITN. These figures might even be higher if the target of 1 net per two people were met.

Nigeria is a huge and diverse country in terms of geography, epidemiology and ethncity. The country has 6 regions that are used for planning and analysis purposes. The map attached shows that there are major regional variations in households owning at least one net and households having at least one net for every 2 people residing there.

There is better coverage of at least one net per household in the northern zones than the southern, with the Northwest achieving 86% and then 42% for covering two people with one net.  When it comes to that latter measure, the remaining 5 regions are all in the 20% level, meaning that for most of the country, there is a long way to go to achieve universal net coverage.

Intermittent preventive treatment of pregnant women  with sulphadoxine-pyrimethamine (SP) has been a long standing intervention to protect women and their unborn children from the devastating effects of malaria. For at least six years now, WHO has recommended that pregnant women take three or more monthly doses of IPTp from the 13th week of pregnancy, onward.

A challenge to getting IPTp is contact with antenatal care services, and only 67% of women who delivered a child in the 5 year preceding the survey attended ANC even once.  Not surprisingly, only 40% of those pregnant women received two doses of IPTp and only 17% got three doses.

Finally, only 28% of children with fever in the two weeks prior to the survey took ACT, although we are not certain about the proportion who had been tested. It is difficult to interpret this finding since we do not know what proportion of those with fever might have been tested and found to harbor malaria parasites. ACTs should only be given to those with positive parasitological tests.

DHS and its sister survey, the Malaria Indicator Survey are performed at approximately three-year intervals. These data sources are valuable for evaluating past interventions and planning new. Clearly some serious planning is needed to address the shortfalls in malaria intervention coverage and save more lives.

Community meeting to introduce community based IPTp

Elaine Roman and Kristin Vibbert of the Jhpiego malaria team describe below an important community-based intervention to prevent malaria in pregnancy. Follow their links to learn more.

The World Health Organization (WHO) 2018 World Malaria Report revealed that of 33 countries where intermittent preventive treatment (with sulfadoxine-

Quality Assured SP Packets

pyrimethamine/SP) is recommended for pregnant women, only 22% of eligible pregnant women received three doses of intermittent preventive treatment during pregnancy (IPTp3) with SP in 2017 (). Therefore, it is crucial that innovative interventions to scale up the provision of IPTp are needed to protect lives of mothers, fetuses and newborns.

The Transforming Intermittent Preventive Treatment for Optimal Pregnancy (TIPTOP), a five-year project, is one such innovative effort that aims to contribute to reduced maternal and neonatal mortality in four countries: DRC, Madagascar, Mozambique, and Nigeria by expanding access to quality-assured (QA) SP.

TIPTOP Infographic

The TIPTOP project is implementing a community-based approach to expand coverage of IPTp3 to a minimum of 50% in project areas, helping to reach the hardest-to-reach pregnant women and to ensure there are no missed opportunities for pregnant women to receive QA SP. Through rigorous research and routine monitoring, TIPTOP will generate evidence for WHO to inform a potential policy decision on global intermittent preventive treatment of malaria in pregnancy.

TIPTOP is also setting the stage for scale up, supporting Ministries of Health to pilot test SP distribution at the community level in settings that will not only yield quality data in real-life program settings but also lend to program learning, including documenting best practices and lessons learned. Further, in coordination with Medicines for Malaria Venture (MMV), TIPTOP is creating demand for and expanding access to QA SP.

Now that procurement, training, supervision, community education, monitoring and evaluation systems are nearly built, full implementation on the ground will be phased in over the next few months.

The preliminary 2018 Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) data have been released for Guinea (Conakry). Since the last DHS in 2012, Guinea and its neighbors experienced the largest Ebola outbreak in history, an event that damaged already weak health systems.

The previous DHS showed very weak malaria indicators. Only 47% of households had at least one ITN, which averages to 0.8 ITNs per person (compared to the universal coverage of 2.0). Among vulnerable groups only 26% of children below the age of 5 years slept under an ITN, as did 28% of pregnant women. Very few, 18%, pregnant women got two doses of IPTp, and only 5% of febrile children received ACTs (testing was not reported then).

Not much has changed concerning ITN coverage as reported in 2018. Slight improvements are seen in IPTp (which now requires 3 or more doses) and malaria testing and treatment for children. Ironically none of the indicators has passed the original 2006 Roll Back Malaria target of 60%, let alone 80% for 2010 and not of course the drive for universal coverage.

DHS has released a preliminary report for 2018 and the malaria component is summarized in the charts posted here. The national coverage for ITNs is 44%, slightly lower than 2012, but the average per household member is slightly higher at 1.1. Again, these numbers do not mark significant progress. Looking at wealth and ITN ownership there is a slight benefit in terms of equity in net possession among those with lower income, but this must be seen in the overall context of very low basic coverage.

Having a net in the household and using it are different challenges as seen in the reports of sleeping under the net on the night prior to the survey among children under 5 years of age and pregnant women. The sad finding is that even in households that own a net, the coverage of these two groups remains very low. This is reflected in the low net per person ratio nationally (1.1).

One would almost wonder if malaria is a neglected disease in Guinea. The reality is that since 2003, Guinea has received around $172 million US dollars in malaria project funding from the Global Fund. Its most recent annual funding from the US President’s Malaria Initiative (PMI) is around $14 million.  Of that PMI funding 24% was designated for nets and related activities, while 52% was to be spent on medicines, diagnostics and pharmaceutical management. These investments include systems strengthening and capacity building in addition to commodities.

PMI provides the needed context: “Since the country was declared Ebola-free in in June of 2016, Guinea continues to make positive advances towards building a strong health system in line with the health recovery plan. The government continues to mobilize internal and external resources for rolling out the health system recovery plan, but much remains to be done if this plan is to yield the intended results.” Areas in particular need of strengthening within the National Malaria Control Program include coordination, health information systems, leadership, supervision and logistics.

Three years have passed since the last Ebola case in Guinea. Hopefully the country can stave off another outbreak and at the same time strengthen its health system. Guinea may not yet be targeted for malaria elimination, but until systems are strengthened, the resources going into malaria control will not be able to push malaria indicators toward saving more lives.

The full 2017 Malaria Indicator Survey (MIS) results have been published for Tanzania providing an opportunity to look at the findings in more detail. Several important factors need highlighting since Tanzania is part of a regional block where some countries are activly considering malaria elimination – the E8 countries of the Southern Africa Development Community.

So far Tanzania has come close to achieving a target of 80% of households owning insecticide treated nets (ITNs) with 78% on the mainland and 79% in Zanzibar. A closer look shows that there is still a ways to go to get to universal coverage or at least one net for every two persons in the household. With this indicator 45% of mainland and 42% of Zanzibar households have met the target, meaning that there are unprotected people in a majority of households across the country. This indicator experienced a drop from a 2011 “high” of 56%, a drop to 39% in 2015 and a slight recovery to 45% in 2017.

Even the universal coverage target requires that people actually sleep under the nets. What the MIS report shows is that although 63% of people had access to an ITN, only 52% reported sleeping under one the night before the survey.

Equity remains an issue with 69% of households in the lowest wealth quintile owning at least one net compared to 81% and 83% in the middle and fourth quintiles. Although households in the highest quintile had 78% ownership, this group is more likely to live in better quality housing that prevents the ingress of most mosquitoes. Also residents in urban areas have an edge over rural counterparts in terms of net access.

The report show that 55% of children under 5 years of age and 51% of pregnant women slept under an ITN. This is down from 72% and 75% respectively in 2011.

We learn that 90% of existing nets were obtained through some form of public sector campaign including mass distribution (62%), village coupons redeemable at health centers (15%), and school campaigns (4%). Only 5% were obtained through routine services (ANC, child immunization) indicating that efforts to ‘keep up’ after mass campaigns need to be strengthened. The 10% of nets, whether treated or not, that were obtained in shops and markets cost the owner in the neighborhood of US$5.00.

Uptake of doses of intermittent preventive treatment for malaria in pregnancy has slowly but steadily increased over the past 15 years and stood at 83% for one dose, 56% for two doses and 26% for three in this most recent MIS. With the current target being three or more doses needed for optimal protection, Tanzania still has a far long way to go, especially considering that accessing ITNs through ANC services is also low..

Jasmine Chadewa, Chonge Kitojo, Goodluck Tesha, Naomi Kaspar, Lusekelo Njoge, Zahra Mkomwa, Dunstan Bishanga, George Greer, Abdallah Lusasi, and Sigsbert Mkude of the USAID Boresha Afya Project, the US President’s Malaria Initiative, the National Malaria Control Program, and the Community Development, Gender, Elderly and Children (Tanzanian Ministry of Health) shared how malaria data quality could be improved at the 2018 Annual Meeting of the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. Below are their findings.

Tanzania has a high malaria burden (see Figure 1) and is facing an increased demand for health services. The Ministry of Health, Community Development, Gender, Elderly and Children (MoHCDGEC) developed the Malaria Service and Data Quality Improvement (MSDQI) checklist to guide supportive supervision teams in evaluating the quality of malaria case management (MCM) services at facility level. MSDQI helps with the collection, monitoring, and evaluation of facility-based malaria performance indicators at all levels of service delivery that provide timely, accurate information and data for decision-making at district, regional, and national levels.

USAID Boresha Afya conducted MSDQI assessments in 1,222 health facilities in the Lake and Western zones in outpatient departments (OPDs) and during antenatal care (ANC). The program disseminates malaria and ANC guidelines, tablets, job aids, and standard operating procedures. It also continues to facilitate supportive supervision and mentorship through the MSDQI tool to build providers’ capacity in identified areas.

Among the challenges reported, Supervisors need to be trained in more than one module to reduce cost. There is turnover of MSDQI supervisors. Cases that come back positive for diseases other than malaria are not investigated further. The use of Android smartphones sometimes interfered with data collection and the reporting system. • Regions/districts depend on donor support to implement MSDQI activities.

In conclusion, effective implementation of the MSDQI tool requires regions, districts, and facilities to be well informed and given clear instruction so they can form supportive supervision teams. This should be done by:

• Orienting teams on roles and responsibilities
• Training teams on relevant competencies, resource allocation, and tablet

use for data collection

The team learned that MCM improved in OPDs and during ANC as a result of the MSDQI assessment. Improved access to quality MCM (diagnosis) nationwide. Frequency of malaria testing increased during the first ANC contact. Testing increased from 87% in April–June 2017 to 96% April–June 2018, a 9% change (see Figure 3). Second doses of intermittent preventive treatment of malaria in pregnancy (IPTp2) coverage increased by 15% on average in Boresha Afya-supported regions between October 2016 and June 2018 (see Figure 4).

This presentation was made possible by the generous support of the American people through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The contents are the responsibility of USAID Boresha Afya and do not necessarily reflect the views of USAID or the United States government.