ITNs &Malaria in Pregnancy &Monitoring &Treatment Bill Brieger | 12 Oct 2012 11:11 am
Tanzania, an example of the challenges of achieving malaria targets
Preliminary results of the Tanzania indicator survey for HIV and Malaria have been released. This makes it possible to track over time some of the basic indicators for success in malaria programming using various Demographic and Health as well as Malaria Indicator Surveys. The trends recall concerns of more than a decade ago when USAID organized the Malaria Action Coalition to address the relative ‘neglect’ in malaria case management and malaria in pregnancy program components. At least in Tanzania, ten years on, the problem persists.
We can see clear progress in insecticide treated net use by vulnerable populations over time. The push for universal coverage since 2009 seems to have paid off in Tanzania. We hope this victory is sustainable, but more and more we are receiving reports that the duration of the long lasting aspect of LLINs is far from the hoped for 5 years. Eighteen months is more realistic.
So after a major campaign to achieve the targets seen in the attached figure we have to ask whether Tanzania is positioned to do massive replacement, either through routine services like immunization programs and antenatal care, over the next several years.
A depressing finding is the last of progress in intermittent preventive treatment for pregnant women as seen below.
- 2008 – 30%
- 2010 – 26%
- 2012 – 32%
Reports over the years have singled out procurement and supply problems arising after Tanzania switched from sulphadoxine-pyrimethamin (SP) to ACTs as its first line antimalarial drug. SP fell off the radar in many places. One wonders also what this says about Tanzania’s overall commitment to maternal health.
Case management is similarly in the doldrums. This is ironic because Tanzania was one of the beneficiaries of the Affordable Medicines Facility malaria (AMFm) pilot effort that was generally credited with enhancing access to quality malaria drugs. Tanzania has also pioneered an accredited drug outlet program aimed at upgrading the quality of the typical patent medicine shop.
As is often the case, much soul searching is needed to look at the health systems – especially those delivering child health and maternal health services – to find the bottlenecks to this problem. Neighboring countries like Rwanda that want to move toward pre-elimination will find it difficult if their neighbors fall behind in implementing the basic malaria interventions.