The Mali story
In the last two years, NgenIRS has been working in close collaboration with a number of stakeholders in Mali to study the impact of IRS. The team’s first trip was conducted in September 2016 to introduce the NgenIRS evidence team, discuss current vector control/malaria landscape, review data sources and availability, prioritize research questions, and discuss study designs. The key partners in Mali include the National Malaria Control Program (NMCP), the US President’s Malaria Initiative (funds IRS implementation in Mali), Africa Indoor Residual Spray Project (implements IRS in Mali), and the MEASURE Evaluation project (supporting NMCP on health information systems management and monitoring and evaluation activities). From the outset, all stakeholders were enthusiastic about the collaboration and expressed interest in conducting the IRS impact evaluations. Ideas, approaches, and data sets—including implementation and routine malaria surveillance data— were shared and the analysis process began. Two additional trips took place in 2018 to present preliminary analysis, review data gaps, and discuss future plans. During these visits, the NgenIRS team received feedback from NMCP, PMI, and MEASURE Evaluation and the analysis was refined and additional research questions posed.
Engaging country-level partners and providing frequent status updates on the analytic process has proven successful in building sustained and productive partnerships in Mali. As a result of this successful collaboration, the evidence base demonstrating that IRS is a cost-effective malaria control intervention has grown: a manuscript recently co-authored by study partners was published in early 2018 and its results have been discussed at length by multiple stakeholders during several presentations at ASTMH 2017, ASTMH West Africa 2018, and at MIM 2018.
As further NgenIRS analyses of more recent spray campaigns get underway, it’s clear that enthusiasm of in-country partners remains strong. MEASURE Evaluation, NMCP, and PMI have promptly validated and shared the latest malaria surveillance data and provided feedback on the data challenges and caveats to consider in the analysis as well as providing inputs for integrating the latest entomological surveillance data.
Analysis on New IRS Product SumiShield® 50WG in Ghana 30th November 2018NgenIRS partners with Ghana’s AGAMal programme to conduct analysis on new IRS product SumiShield® 50WG.
In September 2018, members of the PATH NgenIRS team visited the Upper West Region in Ghana to conduct a site visit in areas where the AGAMal malaria control programme is piloting the use of SumiShield® 50WG, a third-generation indoor residual spraying (3GIRS) product, in 3 districts. Sumishield, prequalified by the WHO in October of 2017, is effective against pyrethroid-resistant mosquitoes and now, along with Actellic®300 CS, provides vector control programmes the ability to annually and pre-emptively rotate between different 3GIRS products to prevent the emergence of resistance. With the introduction of SumiShield into Ghana, the NgenIRS evidence team now has an opportunity to analyze through routine data the public health impact of introducing a second 3GIRS product into an existing spray program. For the purpose of this impact evaluation, PATH is partnering with AGAMal to enhance routine epidemiological surveillance in the study sites through an assessment and selection of sentinel sites for accurate, timely, and complete monthly reporting of routine data in the DHIMS2 database.
Available to view/download – Evidence Snapshot: 3rd generation IRS (3GIRS) in northern savannah, Ghana
The NgenIRS project, funded by Unitaid(link is external), assists country and implementation partners to procure 3rd generation IRS insecticides at lower prices. This results in our partners protecting more people.
The Global Fund(link is external) supported AngloGold Ashanti Malaria Control Programme(link is external) (AGAMal) is a NgenIRS implementation partner who works closely with the Ghana National Malaria Control Programme(link is external) (NMCP) and PMI VectorLink(link is external) to protect at-risk populations in Ghana. This year, in addition to covering communities living in risk areas, all prisons in Ghana will be sprayed by AGAMal with a 3rd generation insecticide, SumiShield® 50WG(link is external). The 10 day campaign will result in the spraying of an estimated 13,707 structures.
The partnership between AngloGold Ashanti and the Government of Ghana is a good example of the success of a public private partnership to improve health and prosperity in Ghana.
Click on the link to read more.. https://www.graphic.com.gh/news/general-news/anglogold-malaria-control-programme-starts-spraying-prisons.html
NgenIRS at VCWG 2019 20th April 2019The RBM Vector Control Working Group meeting was an ideal opportunity for NgenIRS to engage with country partners and other stakeholders.
The RBM Vector Control Working Group meeting was an ideal opportunity for NgenIRS to engage with country partners and other stakeholders. We took the opportunity to discuss the project’s catalytic market impact and new evidence showing the public health impact and cost-effectiveness of 3GIRS.
Two talks were presented during the meeting, one during the plenary session by Christen Fornadel (IVCC Technical Coordinator) on market access interventions – link to the presentation can be found to the right of this page, and another by Molly Robertson (NgenIRS Evidence Lead, PATH) during the IRS IRM workstream elaborating on the emerging evidence base, see link below.
You can find all the IRS and IRM workstream presentation links below:
Mark Hoppe & Dereje Dengela Introduction(link is external)
Molly Robertson – NgenIRS Project Update: Building an Evidence Base for 3GIRS(link is external)
Brad Lucas – Insecticide Rotation PMI VL Campaigns(link is external)
Megan Litrell – Increasing the use of data in IRS decision making(link is external)
Andy South & Ian Hastings – Windows of Selectio
Say Tchau Tchau to Malaria in the Southern African Region
Mozambique represents 3% of the global burden of malaria but the fight-back is in motion. Public-private partnerships in the region are showing great progress in tackling malaria, protecting people and saving lives. Partnerships over the years supporting malaria control efforts have included ministries of health, The Global Fund, The US President’s Malaria Initiative (PMI), Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Goodbye Malaria, Nando’s, Coca Cola, Vodacom, BHP Billiton, Mozal, the Unitaid-supported NgenIRS project among others.
In southern Mozambique malaria has become much less of a threat to the lives of people living in the area. The Tchau Tchau malaria programme has been instrumental in this fight, by spraying the inner walls of houses in all of Maputo Province with long lasting insecticides. These insecticides are effective against pyrethroid resistant mosquitoes, but more expensive than the older insecticide options. The Unitaid-funded NgenIRS project has assisted Mozambique since 2017 with the procurement of 3GIRS at lower prices through a co-payment system. Savings to Mozambique have allowed the NMCP and its partners to expand, thereby protecting vulnerable populations from the devastating health and socio-economic impact of malaria.
The Tchau Tchau programme is part of the MOSASWA initiative, that commenced in 2014 to accelerate progress towards malaria elimination goals in this region and includes collaboration between Mozambique, South Africa and eSwatini (previously Swaziland).
Malaria incidence in Maputo province has decreased by almost 50% since 2014. The programme spanned all eight districts in the province in 2018 with a coverage rate of greater than 90%, protecting more than 1.2 million people. The successes, especially the great reduction of burden of disease in southern Mozambique, attest to the value of public-private partnerships with support and leadership from the National Malaria Control Programme. Funding from a consortium of donors, including the Global Fund, the private sector and more recently the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, supports further expansion to areas in the Gaza and Inhambane provinces.
MOSASWA is part of the broader southern African Elimination Eight (E8) Malaria Initiative consisting of eight endemic countries in this region. The frontline countries of Botswana, Namibia, South Africa and eSwatini are aiming to achieve zero local malaria transmission by 2020. Other countries including Angola, Mozambique, Zambia and Zimbabwe are setting their goal of saying “tchau-tchau” (bye-bye) to malaria by 2030. The success of NgenIRS in making multiple affordable 3GIRS products available to enable insecticide-resistance management will be a significant factor in helping to achieve this goal.