When the going gets tough, the tough get going!

This week’s Fist Bump goes out to the entire VL Ethiopia team because they are beyond tough. VL Ethiopia has shown courage, dedication, and resilience in completing the first two phases of their 2021 IRS campaign in areas that have suffered unstable security conditions, which resulted in postponing or suspending operations in 14 out of 42 districts from Phases 1 and 2 (out of 3 phases total). In other districts, the campaign experienced delays due to rental vehicle driver hesitancy to travel to these areas. The team went to extraordinary lengths to sort out transportation using locally available resources under tight deadlines while still starting operations in all districts within 1-2 days of the scheduled start date. The team creatively shifted the spray calendar to reduce distances in the initial few days. Managing relationships with vendors and local health authorities under these stressful conditions is no easy feat, especially on top of the usual challenges of running a military-style IRS operation.  But VL Ethiopia did it!  

The success of these first two phases is a testament to the strength of the relationships and the mutual trust and confidence VL has built with regional and district health bureaus, which enabled the team to pivot to community-based IRS where needed, engage local resources, and protect as many people as possible from malaria, despite additional data entry and management challenges. The M&E team found innovative solutions to overcome these security and logistical challenges, such as entering data in hotel rooms to mitigate internet connectivity problems and accommodate COVID-19 guidelines. They also relocated data centers when needed to manage data flow.

When the national election date shifted from June 5^th to June 21^st, the team shifted, too. The plans for Phase 3 (which will include 6 entirely new IRS districts in a new region, requiring 98 operations sites to cover an estimated 280,000 structures) were designed in a flexible manner in anticipation of election-related disruptions. The team was able to adapt the activity schedule with minimal disruptions, all while coordinating with external partners to ensure the PBO nets are delivered within a few weeks of IRS as part of a randomized study comparing the effectiveness of PBO nets to IRS combined with standard nets.

We know that the areas that our team is unable to reach for security reasons also tend to be the most vulnerable to malaria, and the VL team’s dedication to achieving and exceeding requisite IRS coverage under these conditions is nothing short of heroic. Thanks, VL Ethiopia, for your sacrifices and your commitment to saving lives!