MADAGASCAR—The United States (US), has revealed that the programs under its President’s Malaria Initiative (PMI), have led to a drastic reduction in deaths from Malaria in Madagascar.
With U.S. government support, Madagascar reduced the number of confirmed malaria cases in the country last year from 2.3 million to 1.7 million, a reduction of more than 25%.
The results were submitted in the PMI’s 17th Annual Report to Congress and at an in event in Farafangana, Madagascar.
Farafagana is the largest city in the Atsimo-Atsinanana region, where more than one-third of malaria cases were reported last year.
The malaria programs were managed by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and implemented with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
U.S. support was critical to scaling up proven, cost-effective, and life-saving malaria control interventions in Madagascar.
PMI emphasized that this was a celebration of what had been achieved so far and it called for redoubling of the collective efforts to reach the common goal of eliminating malaria.
In 2022, PMI helped Madagascar’s National Malaria Program (PNLP) fight malaria by distributing 1.3 million insecticide-treated mosquito nets.
The partnership also led to the spraying of 214,000 households with safe insecticides, protecting 886,000 people.
It also administered more than two million preventive treatment doses to pregnant women and delivered 7.8 million rapid diagnostic tests and treatments.
The U.S. and Madagascar governments, Roll Back Malaria partners, and local administrative and health authorities encouraged health professionals to increase their efforts to control malaria.
Through PMI, the U.S. government, currently provides about 50 percent of the funding needed to help the Ministry of Public Health through the PNLP reduce malaria cases and deaths and to progress toward eliminating malaria.
The report reiterated that the people of the United States walk hand in hand with the people of Madagascar to control malaria and provide US$26 million in 2022 and collectively US$383 million in support since 2008.
The scourge of Malaria in the Island nation
The Severe Malaria Observatory notes that Malaria remains the fourth leading cause of mortality and the fourth most frequent reason for health facility visits in Madagascar.
Additionally, the country is among the 20 with the highest rates of malaria cases and deaths.
Contextually, the malaria figures from Madagascar accounted for 1.6% of global cases and deaths, and 6.6% of malaria cases in East and Southern Africa.
Moreover, between 2020 and 2021, the estimated number of cases increased by 19.5%, from 142 per 1000 of the population at risk to 170, and the estimated number of deaths increased by 19.5%, from 0.36 per 1000 of the population at risk to 0.43.
The age group most affected by malaria is children aged 6–13 years, representing 33.85 percent of cases and unfortunately children under 14 years of age accounted for more than 65 percent of malaria cases in 2019.
PMI VectorLink project states that the cyclone season, extending from December to April, often results in flooding and increased risk of communicable diseases and malaria, compounded by the loss of Insecticide-treated Bed Nets (ITNs).
The project in collaboration with the national strategy has organized the country into three geographic zones based on the local epidemiology and level of coverage of malaria interventions: control, consolidation, and pre-elimination zones.
In its fifth year, April 2022 – March 2023, the PMI VectorLink Madagascar project worked with stakeholders including NMCP, regions, and districts, to spray 182,210 targeted structures in five districts.
The project’s primary objective was to reach a minimum spray coverage of 85 percent of the eligible structures found in each district by implementing high-quality IRS operations.
In October 2021, PMI launched its strategy for 2021–2026, End Malaria Faster, which outlines how PMI will work with national malaria programs in partner countries to drive toward saving more than four million lives and averting over one billion malaria cases by 2025.
The strategy shifts towards a more tailored approach that meets each country where they are in its journey to end malaria.
PMI commits to supporting Madagascar with the continued development of new solutions and strategies that include next-generation drugs, diagnostics, and vaccines that will further accelerate gains and mitigate the threat of drug and insecticide resistance.
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