IPTp &ITNs &Monitoring Bill Brieger | 19 Nov 2007 05:49 pm
DHS Uganda: Some Malaria Progress, More Work Needed
The 2006 Demographic and Health Survey report for Uganda is now available. It was possible to compare the malaria indicators with the survey done in 2000-01. Some progress can be seen in the attached picture. The definition of the indicators is somewhat different between the two periods. For example IPTp did not begin as a national policy/program until 2002, so the comparison indicator in 2000 was the proportion of women who received antimalarial prophylaxis at Antenatal Clinic. Likewise, distinctions between types of nets were not reported for all users in 2000.
While there have been increases in all the indicators, none reached the 2005 RBM targets of 60%. Uganda has been fortunate to receive donor support for its malaria efforts. Uganda’s $23m Round 2 Global Fund Grant started in 2004, and by September 2006 over 91% of the funds had been disbursed. The final grant progress report (2006) indicates that 15% of children under 5 years had slept under an ITN the night before, compared to 9.7% in the 2006 DHS. The progress report shows that 35% of pregnant women had received IPTp2 compared to 16.2% in the DHS. The Global Fund Round 4 Grant in Uganda focused primarily on treatment with ACTs.
Uganda is also fortunate to be one of the first recipients of the US President’s Malaria Initiative. PMI selected Uganda in part because it envisioned potential synergies and scale ups because of the presence of GFATM efforts. Now that RBM targets are 80%, it is incumbent on Uganda to make the most of this multiple donor funding achieve better and faster results while the opportunity exists.
We are lucky that there are various monitoring tools like the DHS to compare reported achievements from progress reports to donors. Other countries should take similar advantage of such tools in order to monitor and improve their malaria control performance.