Nigeria

Policies that build strong primary health care systems are essential to advancing health equity— but they are complex and difficult to design. PATH created the PHC in Policies Tracker as a consolidated source of information to equip stakeholders including policymakers, advocates, implementers, and donors with information about existing policies that shape PHC systems. This new virtual public dashboard tool maps and analyzes data about national-level health policy documents relevant to primary health care (PHC) in 26 low- and middle- income countries—comparing content of these policies with recommendations laid out in key global-level guidance frameworks such as the WHO PHC Monitoring Framework and Indicators (MFI). The tracker aims to improve understanding of policies for PHC in LMICs, add to the global conversation about how to design robust policy for PHC, and help users identify high-impact opportunities for action toward better health for all. This brief provides an overview of the findings and key takeaways from the tracker project, as well as information about methodology and limitations. Access the tracker at bit.ly/PHC_policy_tracker

PATH’s Asset Tracker project provides information on the status of scale-up of key evidence-based interventions that improve maternal, newborn, and child health, and nutrition (MNCHN) outcomes, and save lives. The MNCHN Asset Tracker dashboards allow users to quickly and efficiently compare different indicators across or within countries. This guide is a how-to for reading, packaging, and presenting data from PATH’s MNCHN Asset Tracker to inform advocacy efforts.

In 2021, PATH undertook a subnational assessment in Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, India, Kenya, and Nigeria on barriers and enablers to uptake and implementation of essential maternal, newborn, and child health and nutrition medicines, devices, and interventions—what we call “assets.” We conducted facility spot-checks of asset availability and interviewed healthcare providers and district health management teams on challenges and successes in the journey to scale for each of the 14 assets. The Insights Briefs summarize the findings for each focus country.

The New Nets Project was established with the goal of making the latest resistance breaking net technology more widely available to malaria programs throughout Africa. As well as managing the rapid deployment of new nets to partner countries and negotiating a volume guarantee to reduce prices, the New Nets Project partners oversee randomized control trials and pilots. The evidence gathered from these will be used to ascertain the impact and cost-effectiveness of the nets and support an appropriate policy recommendation from the World Health Organization. The New Nets Project is co-funded by Unitaid and The Global Fund, with complementary funding provided by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and USAID. The project is led by IVCC. This slide deck shares interim findings across the epidemiology, entomology, human behavior, and durability monitoring components of the five observational studies led by PATH.

The New Nets Project was established with the goal of making the latest resistance breaking net technology more widely available to malaria programs throughout Africa. As well as managing the rapid deployment of new nets to partner countries and negotiating a volume guarantee to reduce prices, the New Nets Project partners oversee randomized control trials and pilots. The evidence gathered from these will be used to ascertain the impact and cost-effectiveness of the nets and support an appropriate policy recommendation from the World Health Organization (WHO). The New Nets Project is co-funded by Unitaid and The Global Fund, with complementary funding provided by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and USAID. The project is led by IVCC. This report shares interim findings from the five observational studies led by PATH.

This report focuses on bed net indicators collected from annual cross-sectional surveys and anthropological activities. Within each evaluation, available indicators on bed net ownership, bed net characteristics, and bed net use are presented. Due to country-specific factors, the timing of data collection, management, and analysis varies. Data collection and analysis are ongoing, and definitive conclusions will not be drawn from these results at this time.The New Nets Project (NNP) was established with the goal of making the latest dual active ingredient (AI) insecticide-treated nets (ITNs) more widely available to malaria programs throughout sub-Saharan Africa. In addition to managing the rapid deployment of new nets to partner countries and negotiating a volume guarantee to reduce prices, NNP partners oversee randomized control trials and pilot studies evaluating their efficacy and effectiveness. The evidence gathered from these studies will be used to ascertain the impact and cost-effectiveness of dual AI nets and support an appropriate ITN policy recommendation from the World Health Organization. The NNP is co-funded by Unitaid and The Global Fund, with complementary funding provided by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and US President’s Malaria Initiative. The project is led by IVCC.

The goal of the antenatal care (ANC)-based malaria surveillance study is to assess the potential for pregnant women attending their first ANC visit to be used as an easy-to-access sentinel population at health facilities to monitor trends in prevalence of malaria infection and the coverage of malaria control interventions in study districts, correlated with similar metrics obtained during annual community-based cross-sectional surveys (CSS). The New Nets Project (NNP) is conducting annual cross-sectional surveys in three study districts each in Burkina Faso and western Mozambique and in four study local government areas in Nigeria, with the primary aim of evaluating the impact of next-generation dual active ingredient insecticide-treated nets (ITNs) compared to standard pyrethroid-only ITNs. Through funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and The Global Fund, testing for malaria of all pregnant women at during their first ANC visit is being implemented at select health facilities in NNP study districts for two years (2020–2022).This descriptive report presents a summary of preliminary results generated from the first months of data collection in Burkina Faso, Mozambique, and Nigeria. It begins with an overview of the study sites and timeline, followed by a summary of the study population and data collection and analysis methods. The findings from each country are then presented, including prevalence and ITN and care-seeking indicators. Each country section closes with a discussion on the ANC-based surveillance results and how they seemingly compare to results from the annual household CSSs from the NNP.

Mosquito nets treated with new ingredients show greater reductions in malaria than standard insecticide-treated nets.

Working across 24 countries in sub-Saharan Africa as well as Cambodia and Colombia, the PMI VectorLink Project is working with national malaria programs to plan and implement safe, cost-effective, and sustainable IRS, ITN, and other life-saving malaria vector control interventions with the overall goal of reducing the burden of malaria.PMI VectorLink works with national malaria programs to compile, analyze, and visualize relevant existing data to guide vector control decisions and strategies. National program and partner datasets are integrated for review and analysis, including entomological, epidemiological, intervention coverage, and climatological data. PMI VectorLink addresses barriers to using existing data through dashboards that make relevant data more easily accessible, digestible, timely, and action-oriented.In Nigeria, through a PATH-led integrated data analytics and visualization activity, PMI VectorLink is using data to mitigate the impact of insecticide resistance. This case study explores the opportunity and challenge of using new nets formulated to combat insecticide resistance, and how data is assisting decision-making.The PMI VectorLink project is being led by Abt Associates in partnership with Population Services International and PATH along with the support of Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, Malaria Consortium, Innovative Vector Control Consortium, McKinsey & Company, Inc., EnCompass LLC, BAO Systems LLC, Digital Globe, and Dimagi, Inc.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, governments around the world have rapidly introduced policies to mitigate service disruptions to RMNCAH,N care using innovative adaptations such as telehealth or task shifting. As part of our ongoing COVID-19 Essential Health Services Policy Tracker project supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, PATH developed a set of briefs that explore in detail the service delivery adaptations outlined in pandemic-era government policies in five countries (Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, India, Nigeria, and Pakistan) to equip country leaders, donors, and advocates with tactics for maintaining essential health services through the pandemic and beyond.(French translation available for brief on Burkina Faso)