MALARIA: Introduction to Peace Corps Volunteers in Rwanda
By Arielle Mancuso, H2, 3rd year PCV
On World Malaria Day in 2011, Peace Corps worldwide joined the fight to end malaria on a level unprecedented in the organization’s history through the creation of the Stomping Out Malaria in Africa initiative. SOMA, not to be confused with the name of this publication, is an Africa-wide Peace Corps initiative aimed at supporting the international effort to eliminate malaria in Africa. Now, 3,000 volunteers in 20 Peace Corps programs across Africa are exchanging ideas and working together to eradicate malaria. The goals of this unique Peace Corps initiative are to:
· Reduce malaria where we work: We will accomplish universal bed net coverage and create malaria education programs on prevention and treatment in all Peace Corps Volunteer communities in Africa by 2013.
· Contribute to the reduction of malaria in target countries: Through work with partner organizations and host country initiatives, we will achieve the Millennium Challenge goals of reducing deaths caused by malaria globally (by 50% or more), and substantially reduce deaths caused by malaria in all 22 African countries where we work by 2020.
· Help build an online community of malaria prevention volunteers: We will promote documentation and sharing of malaria prevention practices between posts across the continent and internationally through the initiative’s partners.
· Reduce malaria where we work: We will accomplish universal bed net coverage and create malaria education programs on prevention and treatment in all Peace Corps Volunteer communities in Africa by 2013.
· Contribute to the reduction of malaria in target countries: Through work with partner organizations and host country initiatives, we will achieve the Millennium Challenge goals of reducing deaths caused by malaria globally (by 50% or more), and substantially reduce deaths caused by malaria in all 22 African countries where we work by 2020.
· Help build an online community of malaria prevention volunteers: We will promote documentation and sharing of malaria prevention practices between posts across the continent and internationally through the initiative’s partners.
To achieve these goals, Peace Corps is recruiting Peace Corps Response and third year volunteers in every African country to be Malaria Volunteers focusing on malaria prevention and working with designated staff, acting as Malaria Focal Points, liaising with partner organizations, and supporting work in the field. The key partner is the President’s Malaria Initiative (PMI). Started in 2006, PMI is a joint initiative of the CDC and USAID and is responsible for all malaria prevention work by US Government Agencies.
Why Stomping Out Malaria in Africa’s work in Rwanda is important? What image flashes across your mind when you hear the word, malaria? For me, it is the image of a feverish child being brought to the Community Health Worker in my village for diagnosis and treatment, hopefully successful, sometimes not. It is also the image of my colleague and friend informing me, for the innumerable time, that he is leaving the office early to visit a Community Health Worker because he has a fever which may be a symptom of malaria.
Malaria is a big deal. Addressing malaria combats infectious diseases and improves child and maternal health, but this also works to end poverty and hunger, achieve universal education, and to help create global partnerships. Pregnant women and children under five are the most vulnerable groups for malaria Most child deaths in the world are caused by malaria in Africa. In fact, a child dies every minute in Africa from malaria.
In Rwanda, we don’t always perceive malaria as a big threat. Recently, we’ve seen a significant decline in malaria cases, from 1.5 million to 227,015 between 2005 and 2011. The prevalence rate is low with only 1.4% of children under five and 0.7% of women suffering from malaria in 2010. Malaria is only endemic in 19 districts in the low plains of the eastern and southern regions of the country because of elevation and temperature limitations. However cogent this argument may seem, malaria is still a major infectious disease in Rwanda. Here are five reasons why you should get involved in stomping out malaria in your community, and Rwanda:
1. There has been an upsurge in malaria cases in 2012. Some health centers are reporting a 300% increase compared to last year.
2. The entire population of Rwanda is at risk of malaria, including an estimated 1.9 million children under five and 460,000 pregnant women every year.
3. Malaria may be declining, but that is due to improvements in key prevention activities, such as distribution and use of long-lasting insecticide treated bed nets; interventions that must be sustained.
4. Peace Corps Volunteers have a unique role working at the local level in remote parts of the country where people at the greatest risk of malaria reside. We understand the communities we work in and the problem of “The Last Mile.” We employ the strategy of targeting one person for a long time for sustainable change in our communities. Where we work and how we work brings a different perspective than most partners to the malaria battling table.
5. Rwanda is moving towards pre-elimination of malaria. Elimination does not mean a little bit of malaria; it means none.
Now, what image flashes across your mind when you hear the word, malaria? For me, it is a new image of a crusade of Peace Corps Volunteers working to stomp out malaria in their communities in Rwanda. And that is what we are trying to accomplish. As you may know, I decided to extend my service in Rwanda. Virginia Burger also joined our program as a transfer from Mali.
Why Stomping Out Malaria in Africa’s work in Rwanda is important? What image flashes across your mind when you hear the word, malaria? For me, it is the image of a feverish child being brought to the Community Health Worker in my village for diagnosis and treatment, hopefully successful, sometimes not. It is also the image of my colleague and friend informing me, for the innumerable time, that he is leaving the office early to visit a Community Health Worker because he has a fever which may be a symptom of malaria.
Malaria is a big deal. Addressing malaria combats infectious diseases and improves child and maternal health, but this also works to end poverty and hunger, achieve universal education, and to help create global partnerships. Pregnant women and children under five are the most vulnerable groups for malaria Most child deaths in the world are caused by malaria in Africa. In fact, a child dies every minute in Africa from malaria.
In Rwanda, we don’t always perceive malaria as a big threat. Recently, we’ve seen a significant decline in malaria cases, from 1.5 million to 227,015 between 2005 and 2011. The prevalence rate is low with only 1.4% of children under five and 0.7% of women suffering from malaria in 2010. Malaria is only endemic in 19 districts in the low plains of the eastern and southern regions of the country because of elevation and temperature limitations. However cogent this argument may seem, malaria is still a major infectious disease in Rwanda. Here are five reasons why you should get involved in stomping out malaria in your community, and Rwanda:
1. There has been an upsurge in malaria cases in 2012. Some health centers are reporting a 300% increase compared to last year.
2. The entire population of Rwanda is at risk of malaria, including an estimated 1.9 million children under five and 460,000 pregnant women every year.
3. Malaria may be declining, but that is due to improvements in key prevention activities, such as distribution and use of long-lasting insecticide treated bed nets; interventions that must be sustained.
4. Peace Corps Volunteers have a unique role working at the local level in remote parts of the country where people at the greatest risk of malaria reside. We understand the communities we work in and the problem of “The Last Mile.” We employ the strategy of targeting one person for a long time for sustainable change in our communities. Where we work and how we work brings a different perspective than most partners to the malaria battling table.
5. Rwanda is moving towards pre-elimination of malaria. Elimination does not mean a little bit of malaria; it means none.
Now, what image flashes across your mind when you hear the word, malaria? For me, it is a new image of a crusade of Peace Corps Volunteers working to stomp out malaria in their communities in Rwanda. And that is what we are trying to accomplish. As you may know, I decided to extend my service in Rwanda. Virginia Burger also joined our program as a transfer from Mali.
We are your Malaria Volunteers, third year volunteers placed with the President’s Malaria Initiative and working with USAID’s Rwanda Family Health Project in Kigali. We are resources for you on anything concerning malaria. We will be establishing and maintaining a network of PCVs working with malaria here in Rwanda. If you want to do a malaria project, come to us- we can support you. Share with us what you are doing and we can promote your good work to the global community and network of Malaria Volunteers across Africa through our social media (the links are provided at the end of this article). You will be hearing from us often with updated malaria information and new ideas for projects through regular communication methods, Stomp Rwanda’s Google group and drive, periodic Peace Corps publications, and in person at trainings and regional meetings, as well as through Regional Malaria Volunteers and the Malaria Corner in the Transit House. Please help us get started by completing the First Malaria Survey online through the link provided in the email First Malaria Survey, or on paper. You can print a copy or pick one up at the Malaria Corner. There is also an envelope for completed surveys.
Virginia’s work will focus on trainings for Community Health Workers (CHWs) in diagnosis and treatment of patients with malaria. CHWs are trained to treat illness at the village level following a protocol called Integrated Community Case Management (ICCM), a practice that has significantly increased access to health care in rural areas since its introduction in 2004. A key element of this framework is Integrated Management of Childhood Illness (IMCI), which has significantly reduced the number of deaths in children under five in Rwanda. At Rwanda Family Health Project, Virginia will be working to ensure that IMCI trainings and tools received by CHWs include a quality malaria component and strengthening the implementation of health care practices in the community by targeting districts where CHWs need guidance. She will also promote the proper use and care of long-lasting insecticide-treated bed nets and assist with National Mother and Child Health Week malaria outreach activities.
At Rwanda Family Health Project, I will be supporting improvement in the quality and timeliness of malaria data reported by CHWs to SISCom, Rwanda’s community health information system. The health system in Rwanda is based on two innovative health financing programs that you have probably heard mentioned a few times in your service, namely performance-based financing and community-based health insurance (Mutuelle), which have greatly increased access to affordable and quality health care, but that depends on robust data to function. Currently, community data is transmitted by paper to the catchment health center where it is entered into SISCom and transmitted to the central level for analysis, aggregation, and incorporation in the Health Management Information System (HMIS). As Rwanda works towards pre-elimination of malaria, quality data that is reported on a timely basis and used to inform programmatic decisions will be necessary. Utilizing the network of PCVs in Rwanda, I will conduct a malaria data quality audit by carrying out a retrospective review of SISCom data compared to CHW-collected data. I will work with the National Malaria Control Program to incorporate a data component into CHW trainings, as well as organize a training for PCVs who will train CHWs in data reporting. Further, I will analyze data reported to SISCom and relay feedback to health centers where PCVs are placed to encourage data use in decision-making. Under my scope of work for the PMI, I will also be surveying long-lasting insecticide-treated bed net use and tracking malaria commodities in communities through the PCV network.
For more information about Stomping Out Malaria in Africa and Rwanda, please:
· Check out Stomping Out Malaria in Africa's website: http://stompoutmalaria.org/
· Visit Stomp Out Malaria's Facebook page and "Like" it: http://www.facebook.com/#!/StompOutMalaria
· Get caught up on malaria activities in Rwanda by reading our blog: http://stompoutmalaria.org/country-by-country/rwanda/
· Join Stomp Rwanda's Google group: http://groups.google.com/group/rwstomp?h1=en
· Explore the malaria corner in the Transit House for resources.
· Look for updates or contact your Malaria Volunteers with questions or for more information:
Arielle Mancuso Virginia Burger
0786501079 0786686603
[email protected] [email protected]
Virginia’s work will focus on trainings for Community Health Workers (CHWs) in diagnosis and treatment of patients with malaria. CHWs are trained to treat illness at the village level following a protocol called Integrated Community Case Management (ICCM), a practice that has significantly increased access to health care in rural areas since its introduction in 2004. A key element of this framework is Integrated Management of Childhood Illness (IMCI), which has significantly reduced the number of deaths in children under five in Rwanda. At Rwanda Family Health Project, Virginia will be working to ensure that IMCI trainings and tools received by CHWs include a quality malaria component and strengthening the implementation of health care practices in the community by targeting districts where CHWs need guidance. She will also promote the proper use and care of long-lasting insecticide-treated bed nets and assist with National Mother and Child Health Week malaria outreach activities.
At Rwanda Family Health Project, I will be supporting improvement in the quality and timeliness of malaria data reported by CHWs to SISCom, Rwanda’s community health information system. The health system in Rwanda is based on two innovative health financing programs that you have probably heard mentioned a few times in your service, namely performance-based financing and community-based health insurance (Mutuelle), which have greatly increased access to affordable and quality health care, but that depends on robust data to function. Currently, community data is transmitted by paper to the catchment health center where it is entered into SISCom and transmitted to the central level for analysis, aggregation, and incorporation in the Health Management Information System (HMIS). As Rwanda works towards pre-elimination of malaria, quality data that is reported on a timely basis and used to inform programmatic decisions will be necessary. Utilizing the network of PCVs in Rwanda, I will conduct a malaria data quality audit by carrying out a retrospective review of SISCom data compared to CHW-collected data. I will work with the National Malaria Control Program to incorporate a data component into CHW trainings, as well as organize a training for PCVs who will train CHWs in data reporting. Further, I will analyze data reported to SISCom and relay feedback to health centers where PCVs are placed to encourage data use in decision-making. Under my scope of work for the PMI, I will also be surveying long-lasting insecticide-treated bed net use and tracking malaria commodities in communities through the PCV network.
For more information about Stomping Out Malaria in Africa and Rwanda, please:
· Check out Stomping Out Malaria in Africa's website: http://stompoutmalaria.org/
· Visit Stomp Out Malaria's Facebook page and "Like" it: http://www.facebook.com/#!/StompOutMalaria
· Get caught up on malaria activities in Rwanda by reading our blog: http://stompoutmalaria.org/country-by-country/rwanda/
· Join Stomp Rwanda's Google group: http://groups.google.com/group/rwstomp?h1=en
· Explore the malaria corner in the Transit House for resources.
· Look for updates or contact your Malaria Volunteers with questions or for more information:
Arielle Mancuso Virginia Burger
0786501079 0786686603
[email protected] [email protected]