Guyana malaria programme to benefit from ‘Breakthrough ACTION’

Mar 20, 2018 News

Efforts at improving the way that at-risk communities view malaria are likely to soon materialise when a strategic programme is implemented. The initiative, which is currently in its initial phase, is one that will see the Ministry of Public Health, through its Vector Control Services Unit, working to bring fruition to the Johns Hopkins Centre for Communication Programmes [CCP] Breakthrough ACTION programme.
The Johns Hopkins’ CCP was founded over 30 years ago as a part of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health’s department of Health, Behaviour and Society. It is located in Baltimore, Maryland, United States.
According to published information published at https://ccp.jhu.edu/projects/breakthrough-action/ on November 27, 2017, CCP was the recipient of a five-year award with a US$300 million [equivalent to $60 billion] ceiling from the United States Agency for International Development [USAID] and to lead its social behaviour programmes around the world.
In essence, it was pointed out that Breakthrough ACTION uses state-of-the-art, evidence-based tools to encourage people in developing countries to adopt healthy behaviours, from using modern contraceptive methods to sleeping under bed nets to being tested for HIV.
Based on reports from CCP, “this work not only harnesses the power of communication – from mass media campaigns to TV and radio dramas, to simple posters in a health clinic – to inspire long-lasting change but also takes advantage of other behavioural science approaches.
Some of these approaches include behavioural economics, market insights and human centered design to improve programmes.
It was reported, too, that within its first months, Sierra Leone, Côte d’Ivoire, Nigeria, Zambia, Swaziland and Rwanda have already joined the programme and CCP was expecting to work in dozens of countries, primarily in Africa and Asia.
In fact, it was revealed that CCP was geared to build on previous HC3 successes while also building new partnerships. Further, it was revealed that CCP will also use the expertise it gained during the West African Ebola outbreak to do similar emergency work if needed.
However, based on an advertisements published in the Sunday Edition of this newspaper it was deduced that CCP has brought its Breakthrough ACTION to Guyana.
The advertisements in question called for suitable applicants to fill the positions of Social and Behaviour Change Programme Manager and Social and Behaviour Programme Officer for the Breakthrough Action Guyana malaria programme. The advertisements also highlighted that the programme is being done in collaboration with the Public Health Ministry.
Understandably, preferred for the position of Social and Behaviour Change Programme Manager, are candidates with experience in social and behaviour change design; implementation and monitoring and evaluation and of course malaria prevention and treatment.
The Social and Behaviour Programme Officer among other things must have the ability to travel frequently to Regions One, Seven, Eight and Nine – the hot spot regions for malaria. According to an official out of the Public Health Ministry, the programme is strategic since it is expected to further educate persons at risk for malaria.
“In many of these areas prone to malaria, sometimes people don’t use the treated bed nets distributed to them for the purpose they are intended – to protect them from mosquitoes that can infect them with malaria.
“We have even heard of people using these net to catch fish and they are able to do this because of the chemicals in the net which is suppose to protect them,” the official related.
Once the programme gets underway, it is expected that more people will be better educated on how to protect themselves from malaria and by extension help to reduce the Guyana’s malaria statistics. Between 2015 and 2016, the Ministry recorded a 15 percent reduction in malaria cases. This saw the malaria state of affairs translating to 13, 245 cases in 2015 and by 2016 dipping to 11,149, according to Senior Minister of Public Health, Ms. Volda Lawrence.
This reduction was realised at a time when the Ministry was redoubling its effort to build its capacity to improve the general health and wellbeing of the entire population. In fact Minister Lawrence said, had revealed then that the national standard treatment guidelines and supporting protocols for managing diseases was being implemented.
In so doing, the Ministry was reportedly able to adjust and update its national malaria treatment guidelines and moves were made to put in place a national malaria oversight committee to help combat malaria.
Also to help realise its malaria reduction goal, Government in its 2017 fiscal estimates allocated the sum of $85 million for the procurement of Long Lasting Insecticide Nets [LLIN] to facilitate the roll out of a mass distribution administration [MDA].