Malaria is a parasitic disease found throughout the tropical and sub-tropical regions of the world. It causes more than 300 million acute illnesses and over 1 million deaths every year. The vast majority of these deaths occur in Africa, among children under five. Pregnant women and their unborn children are also extremely vulnerable to malaria, which is a major cause of perinatal mortality, low birth weight, and maternal anemia. It can result in brain damage or cognitive and learning deficiencies among children, and can account for up to 40% of a country’s health expenditure. CCP's Global Program on Malaria consolidates its ongoing programs focused on malaria prevention and control. Those programs include behavior change communication, advocacy, and health marketing and promotion of insecticide-treated nets and anti-malarial medicines.

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FEATURED PROJECT

VOICES for a Malaria-Free Future

VOICES is a new group of advocates headed by Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health Center for Communication Programs (CCP), leading an urgent global call to action for a malaria-free future for families living in the developing world.

With the support of a three-year $8.7-million grant, CCP’s Global Program on Malaria has launched the VOICES for a Malaria-Free Future project to highlight successful anti-malaria efforts and evidence-based results. VOICES is designed to encourage global decision-makers to boost and sustain malaria-specific funding and make sure that funding is used effectively. VOICES includes advocacy projects in four developing countries — Ghana, Kenya, Mali, and Mozambique — that will promote progress made against malaria while also breaking down any policy barriers that hamper effective prevention and control.

Recent increases in dedicated funding are creating a wave of momentum to limit malaria’s impact through insecticide-treated nets (ITNs), new combination therapies (ACTs), indoor residual spraying (IRS), intermittent preventive treatment (IPT) for pregnant women and infants, and vaccine research. While progress is being achieved and measured, policymakers and opinion leaders are not fully aware of this progress or that a malaria-free future for families is possible.

“Globally, we want to engage new voices and rally the malaria community with a unifying call to action,” said the project’s director, Matthew Lynch, PhD.  “We also want to highlight successful work in the field to support our global advocacy efforts.”

At the global level, VOICES will work with donor country leaders, policymakers, opinion leaders, GFATM, multilateral funding agencies, Roll Back Malaria (RBM), global health advocates, existing malaria stakeholders, the private sector, the faith-based community, the R&D community, and the media. VOICES will also closely track global funding trends from a variety of sources, such as the World Bank, GFATM, governments, and other donors.

CCP will lead the global effort and work with local community-based organizations to implement projects in both Ghana and Mali. The CORE Group will work with CCP in Mali through Groupe Pivot, a well-established national NGO umbrella group. In Kenya, CORE Group will provide support to the Kenya NGO Alliance Against Malaria (KeNAAM), while the Malaria Consortium will focus its efforts on Mozambique. The developing country efforts will work to ensure national malaria control strategies are in place, and adequately funded and implemented. 

Funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, VOICES will develop materials based on lessons learned, successes, and case studies from developing country activities to enhance ongoing advocacy efforts and encourage new malaria advocates. It will also seek strategic opportunities to bring developing country spokespersons to the global stage to help make malaria a priority for opinion leaders, policymakers, and the media. International communications firm Fleishman-Hillard Inc. will provide strategic public relations support and counsel to the project.

Country Spotlight

CCP works closely with RBM’s East and West Africa regional initiatives EARN (East Africa RBM Network) and WARN (West Africa RBM Network). On both the global and regional levels, CCP has developed frameworks to show how communication can contribute to malaria control. A major focus of CCP’s communication strategy under RBM has been improving case management of malaria by private practitioners, informal (shopkeepers and clinic owners) as well as formal.

In Uganda, CCP through the Health Communication Partnership (HCP) is assisting the National Malaria Control Program to provide timely, consistent, and clear information concerning malaria control policies and strategies to the media, non-governmental and governmental partners; and to improve the consistency and quality of malaria information provided to the public.

In Nigeria, CCP led the development of a national RBM behavior change communication strategy. This strategy included providing mothers with the knowledge and skills required to recognize the symptoms and danger signs of malaria and respond appropriately, and training patent medicine dealers to act as health educators with regard to malaria in their communities.

In Ghana, CCP partnered with Kinapharma Limited, one of the country’s leading pharmaceutical companies, to train chemical sellers in correct treatment and timely referrals to the health system. CCP worked with the RBM and IMCI Units in the Ghana Ministry of Health to develop a unified and collaborative communication strategy and program.

In Mali, where CCP is a subcontractor to CARE under the Keneya Ciwara child survival and maternal health project, ITNs were offered free or at a reduced price to pregnant women enrolling in a comprehensive antenatal care program and to parents of children under five who were on schedule with their vaccinations.

In Nicaragua, CCP included malaria and dengue prevention messages in ongoing media and community mobilization programs.

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