Afar malaria prevention and control, Northeast Ethiopia
Afar, one of the poorest regions in Ethiopia, is particularly prone to malaria, yet it only has two clinics to serve a population of 1.3 million people.
Many are unaware of how to protect themselves against the disease and commonly available drugs have become less effective as people have grown resistant to them.
Pregnant women and young children are at greater risk of contracting malaria because their immune systems are weak. The infant mortality rate is 118 per 1,000 live births - about twenty times the US average.
Main objectives of the project
AMREF has identified malaria as a priority in Afar. As a result, our health care initiative aims to:
- Increase the use of mosquito nets by pregnant women and young children
- Improve the quality of testing being carried out to diagnose malaria
- Develop plans that allow people to treat malaria with effective drugs in the home
- Educate communities about how to control the spread of malaria
- Strengthen AMREF’s partnerships in Afar and expand the program to cover more areas of the district
Key achievements
- 99,000 mosquito nets have been distributed to pregnant women and young children in 11 districts – 99% of households in the project area have received two nets each.
- Communities in these districts have been trained how to use their new mosquito nets and shown how they can help prevent malaria.
- AMREF has trained 300 “mother coordinators” to help families protect themselves from malaria in their own homes.
- The project has expanded to cover new districts and protect more vulnerable communities.
The project, now in its final year, is conducting research into the use of rapid diagnostic tests by mother coordinators. This will allow them to test for malaria in villages that may be some distance from clinics.
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