Elimination &Invest in Malaria Control Bill Brieger | 25 Apr 2015 04:47 pm
Huambo: Thinking ahead toward investing in malaria elimination
Eight members of the Southern African Development Community are strategizing toward the pre-elimination phase of malaria. The four frontline states are Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland and Botswana. The second tier includes Angola, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Mozambique.
Malaria prevalence varies by province in Angola with greater burden in the north (see map on right). Huambo in the central highlands is the second most populous province at 2 million and in some of the 11 municipalities malaria transmission is low. This has led provincial health authorities to strategize how to invest in pre-elimination efforts where appropriate while maintaining full prevention interventions where needed.
An analysis of routine health information system (HIS) data is a first step. Rapid Diagnostic tests are part of the basic protocol for case management in all health centers. Data for 2014 was summarized by municipality. Test positivity rates for each municipality are shown in the map to the left. These range from a low of 2% in Katchiungo in the east to 54% Bailundo in the north.
More detailed geospatial analysis will be needed looking at variations within municipalities by health center catchment area, but a broad picture emerges that three municipalities in the northern part of the province have higher RDT positivity rates, and require sustained interventions like long lasting insecticide-treated nets and intermittent preventive treatment for pregnant women.
Reactive case detection such as being practiced in Swaziland might be considered in the remaining 8 municipalities after some initial pilot testing. Community based surveys using RDTs and more precise tests like polymerase chain reaction (PCR) could also be tried in order to supplement current HIS data and provide better targeting of interventions.
Hopefully government and partners will invest in helping Huambo test these processes. Huambo could then provide a good model for approaching malaria elimination for the rest if the country and the region.