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In Tatale-Sanguli District (TSD) of Northern Ghana malaria mortality dropped by 80 percent from 2018 to 2020, according to reports from the regional health directorate. This decrease corresponds to the support the district started receiving from the U.S. President’s Malaria Initiative (PMI) VectorLink Project, which conducts indoor residual spraying (IRS) to kill the mosquitoes that carry the malaria parasite. By 2021, with the help of the project, the leaders of the district’s Tangbabong community knew that fighting this deadly disease required commitment. For IRS to be successful, 85 percent of the homes in the targeted area must be sprayed to achieve community protection. In Tangbabong, these community leaders see IRS as a top priority in their efforts to end malaria.

When the chief and elders are informed about the spraying date, they prepare the community. A gongong (a local drum at the chief palace used to make important announcements) is beaten to inform community members about the benefits of the spraying and the date it will occur. Community leaders mobilize households and support community health volunteers to remind homeowners to prepare for spraying and to comply with health and safety guidelines.

On the day of spraying, every household removes their belongings from their homes and dedicates the day to spraying-related activities, including providing water for mixing insecticide. In some instances, a community health volunteer together with community members prepare the homes of neighbors who have traveled to ensure that no one is missed in benefiting from IRS. This support is also extended to neighbors who are unable to remove their belongings themselves. Upon the arrival of the spray team, homeowners are so eager to have their homes sprayed early that they will urge spray operators to come to their homes first.

While the spray team is in the community, the chief and elders meet with the project team to express their appreciation and hope that together malaria can be eliminated just as guinea worm was in the Northern Region in 2010. If a home is not sprayed during the first IRS visit, community elders follow up with a community health volunteer or community health nurse, and in some instances, through a recruited project staff living in the community, to request the spray team to revisit the community.

The success of IRS in Tangbabong (98.8% spray coverage) in 2021 is largely due to community leaders taking the steps needed to ensure that the community is protected from the disease and because community members recognize that vector control is a part of their communal responsibility.  It was after the 2020 spray campaign when spray coverage reached 92.9% that the chiefs and elders of Tangbabong decided to increase coverage in subsequent campaigns. Engaging the community in the 2021 IRS campaign resulted in the improved coverage of 98.8%, protecting 410 community members. Today, community leadership is happy to have one of the best spray coverages comparable to their 10 neighboring villages where the average coverage is 94%.

Chief Bechanignan said, “I previously could not enjoy the evening breeze in my home because of mosquitoes, but now I am able to do so for a long while before going to bed.”  He expressed his gratitude and pledged to “always ensure that his community participates in IRS.”

The U.S. President’s Malaria Initiative (PMI) recently extended the PMI VectorLink Project another 12 months, continuing its work to September 2023. 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., the PMI VectorLink Project initially began in September 2017 as a five-year project to reduce the burden of malaria.

The one-year extension reflects the project’s success in planning, implementing, and monitoring life-saving vector control programs for indoor residual spraying (IRS) of insecticides and distribution of insecticide-treated bed nets (ITNs) across 24 countries in sub-Saharan Africa as well as in Cambodia and Colombia.

PMI VectorLink successfully navigated the challenges presented by COVID-19, including border closures, national lockdowns, and serious delays and drastic cost increases in the production, supply, and delivery of malaria commodities. Some of the highlights from 2020 include:

• 21.3 million people protected from malaria through 16 timely, high-quality IRS campaigns

• 3.49 million children and 636,527 pregnant women protected

• >58,000 seasonal workers hired to support IRS (33% female)

• >5.8 million insecticide treated nets (ITNs) distributed

• 5 peer-reviewed journal articles published on studies that assessed malaria risks and increased trust in new vector control approaches

PMI VectorLink is excited to continue its fight to end malaria! Keep following us on our journey.

The U.S. President’s Malaria Initiative (PMI) VectorLink Project recently won the 2021 Clark Abt Award for Outstanding Social Impact, the highest award given by Abt Associates.

Working across 24 countries in Africa as well as Cambodia and Colombia, the PMI VectorLink Project protects more than 31 million people a year from malaria by equipping countries to deliver safe, cost-effective, and sustainable indoor residual spraying (IRS), insecticide-treated nets (ITNs), and other life-saving malaria vector control interventions. The project is implemented 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.

When COVID-19 began spreading rapidly across the globe, the World Health Organization (WHO) called on countries to continue malaria services to prevent further strain on health systems. Preventable malaria cases would compete with COVID-19 cases for hospital beds and medical attention. Countries battling the fight against malaria are often the same countries that struggle with overburdened health systems. Populations frequently have limited access to safe, affordable, and adequate health care.

Tens of millions of lives were at stake. Heeding WHO’s call was essential, and PMI VectorLink needed to continue implementation while also protecting frontline workers, staff, partners, and beneficiaries from COVID-19. Contending with border closures, national lockdowns, and serious delays and drastic cost increases in the production, supply, and delivery of malaria commodities, the project successfully carried out 16 high-quality, timely IRS campaigns and helped to distribute nearly 6 million ITNs, despite the challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic. The project quickly identified ways to adapt implementation of a variety of vector control activities to the COVID-19 context through innovative approaches, allowing for minimal disruptions in implementation of life-saving vector control interventions while mitigating the risk of project activities to beneficiaries and project staff.

Malaria kills more than 400,000 people every year, and millions more fall sick from this vector-borne disease. Young children and pregnant women are among the most vulnerable. Healthy populations contribute to healthier economies, which can translate into stability and peace in a country, region and the world. When children are healthy, they can go to school, and parents, particularly women, who are most often the family caregivers, can focus on income-generating activities. Malaria protection also allows countries’ health systems to allocate funds to emerging health crises, such as COVID-19, rather than malaria.

PMI VectorLink’s senior management team (Bradford Lucas, Allan Were, Mariandrea Chamorro, Angela Sanchez, Kathryn Stillman, Aklilu Seyoum, and Peter Chandonait) accepted the award on behalf of the project. Named in honor of Abt Associates’ founder, the annual Clark Abt Prize recognizes a project that has had significant social impact. In 2014, the PMI Africa Indoor Residual Spraying Project, the predecessor to the PMI VectorLink Project, also won the Clark Abt Prize. Learn more here.

PMI VectorLink published its findings on the invasive malaria vector Anopheles stephensi in Ethiopia in Malaria Journal this week.

The study, “An update on the distribution, bionomics, and insecticide susceptibility of An. stephensi in Ethiopia, 2018-2020,” looks at the distribution, bionomics, insecticide susceptibility, and transmission potential of the vector.

One of the primary malaria vectors in South Asia, the vector was first reported in Africa in 2012 in Djibouti. Since then, the vector has been found in Ethiopia, Somali, and Sudan, and poses grave concern malaria control.

While more data is needed, the study will help inform Ethiopia’s vector control decisionmakers on how to reduce this vector’s population and its spread of malaria as it unveils more information on this invasive species in Africa. Read more here.

https://malariajournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12936-021-03801-3

PMI VectorLink Findings on Outdoor Mosquito Traps Published in Parasites & Vectors

Understanding the behavior of malaria-carrying mosquitoes, such as when and where they bite, is essential to reducing the spread of the disease. Human landing catch (HLC) remains one of the most common methods for measuring human biting rates indoors and outdoors. The high costs and ethical concerns related to increased risk of infectious bites from HLC, however, spurred PMI VectorLink to study alternative trapping methods in western Kenya. Those findings, which were recently published in Parasites & Vectors, showed that baited Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Light Traps may be the most appropriate tool currently available for assessing outdoor-biting and malaria transmission risk. Read more here.

PMI VectorLink Malawi Reduces Environmental Impact of IRS

The U.S. President’s Malaria Initiative VectorLink Project, in partnership with National Malaria Control Programs, protects millions of people every year from malaria, a deadly infectious disease. Indoor residual spraying (IRS) controls malaria by spraying insecticide on the walls and ceilings where malaria-carrying mosquitoes rest. The project ensures the environmental impact of IRS is minimal and responsibly manages waste such as plastic bottles, cardboard boxes, worn personal protective equipment, and other materials. The PMI VectorLink Project adheres to strict environmental guidelines and protocols to protect land, water, air, and human health when implementing IRS and  follows a hierarchy of reducing waste and recycling waste to mitigate environmental impact.

Solid waste that cannot be reused and has not come into contact with insecticides or has been washed clean of the insecticides meet the criteria for recycling. Waste management remains a challenge in Malawi, however, as there are few companies able and licensed to work in the country. The PMI VectorLink Project established public-private partnerships with two reputable waste recyclers in Malawi that are approved and licensed by the Government of Malawi through the Department of Environmental Affairs.

The project now donates the eligible waste for recycling, which reduces the amount of waste being sent to the landfill, to O.G. Plastic Industries (2008) Limited, CSH Investments, and HongSheng Packaging Limited. The PMI VectorLink Project signed memorandums of understanding (MoUs) with the companies which lays out how the waste should be handled, recycled, and managed. This past year the PMI VectorLink Project was able to recycle 2,682 insecticide bottles; 3,147 Kg of cardboard/cartons and paper; 1,148 face shields; 19,719 water bottles (500 ml) and 21,540 Maheu Energy Drink bottles. Other items that were recycled included unrepairable Goizper Sprayers, worn out helmets; damaged plastic basins, containers, jerry cans, cups, and other plastic ware; and torn and used black plastic sheets used for covering household items during spray.

These products have been transformed in many different ways. For instance, insecticide bottles and spray operators’ scratched face shields have been recycled into solvent containers, laundry jugs, and liquid soap bottles. The plastic containers from the energy drinks consumed by spray operators before the day’s work are made into black plastic sheets, which can be used together with grass as roof covers for houses.

“The work being done by PMI VectorLink Malawi to combat malaria through indoor residual spraying is very commendable,” said Patrick Medius Nyirenda, Environmental Officer, from Malawi’s Environmental Affairs Department. “The battle against diseases such as malaria cannot be won by government alone. It is pleasing to note that in order to ensure sustainable implementation of the project, PMI VectorLink has committed itself towards recycling of waste and unwanted materials from their operations. This is in line with [Malawi’s] National Waste Management Strategy (2019-2023), which promotes waste segregation, reuse, recycling, and resource recovery as key strategies to address waste management challenges in the country.”

Recycling conserves natural resources, strengthens the economy through sales of products from the recycling processes and helps to create jobs in the industry. Recycling is an essential method of sustainable materials management, which emphasizes the productive and sustainable use of materials across their entire life cycle while minimizing the environmental impact. Recycling also further conserves material which would have been used as raw materials from the natural environment to produce the same needed products.