National Malaria Training Program
Training African Healthcare Workers in Malaria Prevention, Diagnosis and Treatment
Although eliminated in some parts of the world, malaria continues to devastate much of sub-Saharan Africa, with an estimated 215 million people afflicted by the disease each year. Young children and pregnant women are disproportionately affected, leaving them weakened and vulnerable to other diseases. This places an enormous burden on already strained health systems in the region.
Since 2005, Accordia and ExxonMobil have partnered to address the burden of malaria on the African continent. The Accordia-ExxonMobil partnership is characterized by a strong commitment to developing and rigorously evaluating innovative new approaches for improving the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of malaria. Through the partnership, Accordia and Infectious Diseases Institute developed programs that are responsive to local challenges and extremely effective in improving the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of malaria in Uganda, Nigeria, and elsewhere in Africa.
With strong in-country and international partnerships, we established the National Malaria Training Program in Uganda, which has been endorsed by the Ugandan Ministry of Health and incorporated into Uganda’s effort to scale up malaria training activities at the national level. Clinicians are trained in the prevention, care, and treatment of malaria, including the use of rapid diagnostic tests in place of standard-of-care presumptive treatment to reduce the unnecessary use of antimalarials. The program also provides training for pharmacists and the private sector, who supply the vast majority of antimalarials in Africa, and for community health workers on home-based management of fever.
Operational research to evaluate the clinical effectiveness and safety of the program found that the training significantly reduced the proportion of patients prescribed an antimalarial unnecessarily, improving long-term health outcomes, and resulting in substantial cost savings.
With ExxonMobil’s support, Accordia is working to adapt this National Malaria Training Program for use in other African countries.
Learn more:
- Report: National Malaria Training Model