Documented progress in malaria control

Every day in communities throughout Zambia, more families are being protected from mosquitoes and the potentially deadly malaria parasite they transmit. Since 2005, the Malaria Control and Evaluation Partnership in Africa (MACEPA), a program at PATH, has supported the Government of Zambia’s leadership in controlling malaria.

In 2008, results of Zambia’s national malaria indicator survey showed significant progress in making bednets, medicines, and indoor spraying broadly available. Among children younger than five years, malaria parasite prevalence rates dropped by more than half, and cases of moderate to severe anemia, a common consequence of malaria, decreased by more than two-thirds. More than 60 percent of households owned an insecticide-treated bednet—an increase of nearly 65 percent from 2006—and bednet usage increased among young children and pregnant women. In addition, more pregnant women were receiving preventive medicine.

Building on Zambia’s demonstration of what can be achieved through an ambitious national plan and program, the MACEPA Learning Community is working with other African countries to implement their malaria control plans. In 2008, the Learning Community supported training workshops for representatives of more than a dozen neighboring nations to strengthen their skill and capacity to fight malaria. Illustrating the impact of these and related efforts, Ethiopia’s national malaria indicator survey determined that nearly 70 percent of households in the country’s most malaria-ridden areas were protected by at least one insecticide-treated bednet or indoor spraying in 2008.

Photo: PATH/Paul Libiszowski.

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