Malaria: Our Impact

Nigeria, like many other low- and middle-income countries, suffers from systemic weaknesses which cripple its health care system and leave many without adequate access to health services or care. With support from the Global Fund, the MSH-led Nigeria Resilient and Sustainable Systems for Health (RSSH) project is working with Nigeria's Center for Disease Control, the Department of Health Planning Research and Statistics (DHPRS) at the Federal Ministry of Health, and the National Product Supply Chain Management Program to strengthen and expand the capacity of its national and state-level health systems. One way that RSSH is supporting Nigeria in providing quality health care, especially for those most in need, is through its state-level interventions around public financial management, the state health insurance scheme, and organizational and labor market assessments.

Uganda experienced a large number of malaria cases in April and May 2019. While this would normally correlate with patterns of seasonality, the season’s peak extended past May, with the highest number of observed cases recorded in July 2019.

COVID-19 is changing how malaria projects maintain programming in Nigeria. Before the pandemic, trainings and capacity-building efforts were conducted face-to-face, coupled with breakout sessions, where attendees huddled to discuss a topic or idea in-depth. But as public health experts recommend physical distancing to curb the spread of the coronavirus, face-to-face interactions are no longer considered a safe way to meet or share knowledge. To bridge this communications gap, organizations and programs worldwide are now utilizing virtual resources—an approach that has not been widely tested in training large groups of people in Nigeria, especially health care workers.

It’s early morning, but Rebecca Owolabi, a nursing officer at the Isokun Maternity Center in Ilesha in Osun State, Nigeria, is already providing group counseling on malaria prevention in pregnancy to women visiting the facility for antenatal care. She counsels them on the importance of sleeping under an insecticide treated bednet and seeking treatment at the first sign of malaria. Also, as preventive therapy, she hands two tablets of sulphadoxine pyrimethamine (SP) to the women, who then swallow them with water.