Climate &Community &Development &Epidemiology &Malaria in Pregnancy &Mosquitoes &Surveillance &Urban &Zoonoses Bill Brieger | 11 Jul 2017
Population Health: Malaria, Monkeys and Mosquitoes
On World Population Day (July 11) one often thinks of family planning. A wider view was proposed by resolution 45/216 of December 1990, of the United Nations General Assembly which encouraged observance of “World Population Day to enhance awareness of population issues, including their relations to the environment and development.”
A relationship still exists between family planning and malaria via preventing pregnancies in malaria endemic areas where the disease leads to anemia, death, low birth weight and stillbirth. Other population issues such as migration/mobility, border movement, and conflict/displacement influence exposure of populations to malaria, NTDs and their risks. Environmental concerns such as land/forest degradation, occupational exposure, population expansion (even into areas where populations of monkeys, bats or other sources of zoonotic disease transmission live), and climate warming in areas without prior malaria transmission expose more populations to mosquitoes and malaria.
Ultimately the goal of eliminating malaria needs a population based focus. The recent WHO malaria elimination strategic guidance encourages examination of factors in defined population units that influence transmission or control.
Today public health advocates are using the term population health more. The University of Wisconsin Department of Population Health Sciences in its blog explained that “Population health is defined as the health outcomes of a group of individuals, including the distribution of such outcomes within the group.” World Population Day is a good time to consider how the transmission or prevention of malaria, or even neglected tropical diseases, is distributed in our countries, and which groups and communities within that population are most vulnerable.
World Population Day has room to consider many issues related to the health of populations whether it be reproductive health, communicable diseases or chronic diseases as well as the services to address these concerns.
IPTp &ITNs &Malaria in Pregnancy &Treatment Bill Brieger | 10 Jul 2017
Liberia’s Fight against Malaria Continues
Liberia was making steady progress against malaria in the years after the civil war. Despite the devastation of Ebola, the health authorities have continued to push against malaria. The DHS Program has released key findings from the 2016 Malaria Information Survey. We have compared those against the 2011 MIS, and while there is progress, much work needs to be done in this highly endemic area – not just in fighting malaria, but in rebuilding health systems damaged by war and Ebola.
Targets for Intermittent Preventive Treatment in pregnancy of malaria have risen from at least 2 doses in 2011 to three or more when the 2016 data were collected. While the IPTp2+ doses have increased by a little less than 5%, the challenge of IPTp3 and greater has become quite evident. It is interesting that coverage of IPTp is slightly better in rural areas, but there is still a long way to go to protect pregnant Liberian women.
The situation with access to and use of insecticide treated nets has also improved over the 5-year period, but still remains well below the targets of universal coverage. Even though nearly two-thirds of households have at least one ITN, only a quarter have enough nets to reach the goal of one net for every two people. Net use by children below the age of 5 years is better than that of pregnant women, though in both cases less that half of these vulnerable populations are covered. Nets are particularly important for pregnant women who cannot take IPTp in the first trimester.
Care for febrile children also has improved, but questions remain about appropriate care due to the nature of the questioning processes in the MIS. Seeking advice increased by 20% as did getting blood tests (RDT or microscopy) once care is sought. Double the number of febrile children received artemisinin-based combination therapy in 2016 compared to 2011, but since the rate of testing is low, we do not know if they were being appropriately treated – given ACT only is tests were positive.
Liberia does receive support from donors such as the Global Fund and the US President’s Malaria Initiative. These and other partners need to strategize with the Liberian Ministry of Health and other local partners (NGOs, Businesses, etc.) in order to mobilize the support to put Liberia more squarely on the road to malaria elimination.
Asia &Elimination Bill Brieger | 03 Jul 2017
Enhancing Civilian-Military Cooperation to Accelerate Malaria Elimination in Southeast Asia
Our colleague Sara Canavati attended the recent meeting on civilian and military collaboration to eli8minate malaria in Southeast Asia. Herein she shares some of the highlights of the meeting. Sara is affiliated with both the Centre for Biomedical Research, Burnet Institute, Melbourne, Australia and the Department of Clinical Tropical Medicine, Faculty of Tropical Medicine, Mahidol University, Bangkok.
– – – – – – – – – –
The Heads of State from ASEAN member nations stated their commitment to an “Asia Pacific free of Malaria by 2030” at the 9th East Asia Summit. This mandate for a malaria-free Asia Pacific creates an unprecedented opportunity to strengthen ties between civilian and military health systems and regional militaries.
On 26-28 June 2017, the Armed Forces Research Institute of Medical Science (AFRIMS) organized a meeting titled: “Enhancing Civilian-Military Cooperation to Accelerate Malaria Elimination in Southeast Asia” in Bangkok, Thailand. The meeting brought together Ministry of Defense and Ministry of Health malaria officials from Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Indonesia, Vietnam, Australia, and the United States.
Since malaria is a common problem in the military, and since malaria does not know borders, regional collaborations involving all affected populations are important to achieve malaria elimination. The meeting was instrumental for reviewing existing military and civilian national malaria collaborations, identifying and prioritize key areas of mutual military-civilian interest, and discussing ways in which regional militaries can assist national malaria elimination goals.
Three action points on how the civilian and military sectors can more effectively collaborate to achieve elimination in four areas of mutual interest (Case Detection and Management and Disease Prevention; Surveillance, Monitoring and Evaluation; Operational Research/Training and Advocacy) were identified and documented by meeting attendees through a breakout team format.
Advocacy for malaria elimination was the theme that military attendees found most challenging due to the hierarchical structure of the military. Among several presentations, East Africa Malaria Task Force and Experiences from African Military Medical Departments were shared to serve as an example of military-advocacy. Financing was another key barrier identified. The chair of the regional steering committee (RSC) for the Global Fund, Prof Arjen Dondorp and The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (GFTAM) Geneva assured their support and commitment to finance military operations for malaria elimination in South East Asia. This was a historical achievement as this will be the first time ever the GFTAM finances the military for malaria elimination.
One significant outcome of the meeting is that the military will now be represented in the RSC for the Global Fund “Regional Artemisinin-resistance Initiative 2 Elimination (RAI2E)” malaria grant.
Links to some of Sara’s recent malaria publications:
- High mobility, low access thwarts interventions among seasonal workers in the Greater Mekong Sub-region: lessons from the malaria containment project
- Efficacy and Safety of Pyronaridine-Artesunate for Treatment of Uncomplicated Plasmodium falciparum Malaria in Western Cambodia
- World Malaria Day 2016 in the Kingdom of Cambodia: high-level governmental support embodies the WHO call for “political will to end malaria”
- Village malaria worker performance key to the elimination of artemisinin-resistant malaria: a Western Cambodia health system assessment