Learning together to tackle malaria

Countries are working together to set a new standard for malaria control in sub-Saharan Africa. The MACEPA Learning Community provides a forum for leading-edge malaria control programs to showcase their existing strengths, share lessons learned, and build on each other’s experiences. Through the Learning Community, MACEPA facilitates shared learning and peer-to-peer collaboration by leading multicountry trainings and workshops across the region. During trainings, participants from different countries work side-by-side to strategize a way forward and address existing challenges, while receiving technical support for planning, program management, monitoring and evaluation, and national advocacy. Skilled trainers work with countries to help them incorporate new tools, methods, and knowledge into their malaria control programs

These workshops help build regional support of proven, adaptable methods and tools—tools that countries know will work. Recent trainings have focused on the scaling up of the distribution of insecticide-treated bednets to reach universal coverage; planning, implementing, and analyzing national malaria indicator surveys; and using personal digital assistants to digitally map households for indoor residual spraying. Trainings have been attended by participants from up to 13 different countries and regions, including Ethiopia, Kenya, Liberia, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, South Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.

In 2006, with a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, PATH initiated the design and start-up of the MACEPA Learning Community. Zambia, the founding learning community country, has been joined by Ethiopia and Tanzania, and MACEPA is currently expanding its partnership with additional countries. Together these countries are demonstrating that a flexible model for accelerated, nationally led malaria prevention and control efforts can rapidly impact health and economic indicators.

Visit the MACEPA Learning Community website.

Watch participants talk about a recent LLIN scale-up workshop.

Photo: David Jacobs.