PSI

The challenge

Malaria is one of the leading causes of death in Tanzania, and approximately 80% of malaria deaths occur among children below five years of age and pregnant women. A recent national survey found that 18% of children have malaria parasites, and the prevalence in rural children is almost three times higher than urban children.

Our Response

PSI/Tanzania supports the National Malaria Control Programme to improve malaria prevention and treatment, including its goal for 80% of pregnant women and children to be sleeping under insecticide treated nets by 2013, and for 90% of households own at least one treated net.

Malaria Prevention

Consistent, year round use of insecticide treated mosquito bed nets has been repeatedly shown to be one of the most effective means of preventing malaria. PSI/Tanzania is working through both commercial and non-commercial channels to increase the opportunities for vulnerable groups to get effective protection.
PSI/Tanzania distributes insecticide retreatment kits for bed nets under the brand name Ngao. Today millions of mothers know how to apply insecticide to mosquito nets inside their own households simply, safely and effectively. Kits are distributed bundled with new mosquito nets, and sold separately through the private sector, and can be found in rural outlets in over 48% of villages nationwide. In a survey in 2008, 94% of rural women reported that they had heard messages about using Ngao.
To scale up access to nets to children under five, the National Malaria Control Programme along with partners including local health authorities, PSI/Tanzania, MEDA and World Vision, is rolling out a targeted campaign to give a free long lasting insecticide treated mosquito net to every child under five in Tanzania. By early 2010 all children will have been given a free net. PSI/Tanzania provides intensive communications support to this programme, using mass media and its extensive network of mobile video unit teams.

PSI/Tanzania supports the National Malaria Control Programme’s goal of universal coverage with long lasting insecticide treated mosquito nets throughout Tanzania. Malaria Haikubaliki!

Malaria Treatment

Tanzania is achieving dramatic improvements in effective malaria case management through implementation of the new treatment policy and the use of Artemisinin-based Combination therapy (ACT). PSI/Tanzania supports the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare with communication activities encouraging the use of ACT countrywide, in particular promoting early care seeking behaviour, increased access to ACT, and improved treatment compliance. PSI/Tanzania played a leading role in the development and management of mass media campaigns on the new treatment policy.

PSI/Tanzania is part of a pilot project implemented in partnership with the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare and the Clinton Foundation, focusing on increasing access to subsidised, over-the-counter ACT. Through innovations in packaging, radio, wall painting, poster and community events, the project has shown that access to ACT can be increased through the private sector particularly for children, and that price subsidies can be passed on to consumers. This study helped inform the Affordable Medicines Facility for Malaria, a new multi-country funding mechanism for malaria treatment being rolled out in several countries in Africa in 2010 by the Global Fund against AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, including Tanzania.

PSI/Tanzania is developing a network of NGO and CBO partners for community level interpersonal communication approaches in 20 regions of mainland Tanzania

Bringing effective malaria communications down to the village level

PSI/Tanzania implements community based interpersonal communications around malaria through a network of NGO and CBO partners that reach 65 districts in 12 regions across the country, and will be in 20 regions by the end of 2010. This will in turn help ensure that malaria treatment and prevention commodities and services are used effectively by Tanzanian households, particularly rural households. These activities are supported by the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, and the USAID funded Communications and Malaria Initiative in Tanzania (COMMIT) project, implemented by the John Hopkins Bloomberg

Innovative Research There is growing evidence that some malaria carrying mosquitoes in places with high bed net coverage may be adapting their behaviour by biting earlier in the evening, before people have gone to bed. PSI/Tanzania has therefore initiated a randomised, placebo-controlled study in a cluster of rural villages, in partnership with the Ifakara Health Institute, to identify whether mosquito repellents, when applied during the evening, can reduce malaria prevalence. The research has been conducted in 2009, and the study results will be analysed and released in 2010

School of Public Health Centre for Communication Programs.

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MALARIA PREVALANCE MAP IN TANZANIA:pdf file

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