CCP to Launch Worldwide Malaria Vector Control Project

© Diana Mrazikova

Worth an estimated $60 million, the USAID/President’s Malaria Initiative award will support countries to strengthen LLIN distribution and proven alternative vector control measures.

The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health’s Center for Communication Programs (JHU∙CCP) announced a five-year award from the U. S. Agency for International Development (USAID) to support countries to achieve and maintain high levels of coverage and use of long-lasting insecticide-treated mosquito nets (ITNs) as well as to facilitate the adoption of proven alternative vector management interventions.

The new project will partner with Population Services International, Tropical Health, Tulane University, Mennonite Economic Development Associates, the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute and local agencies. USAID missions in PMI focus countries across Africa and in the Greater Mekong Subregion are expected to participate in the $60-million project.

Long-lasting insecticide treated nets are considered an essential tool for achieving and sustaining malaria control. The ability to efficiently and effectively distribute nets and increase their use remains critical to reducing the burden of malaria and maintaining control of the disease in endemic countries. The President’s Malaria Initiative, in partnership with JHU∙CCP, will use the Malaria Vector Control (MVC) project to build on the work of the NetWorks project to test and improve mechanisms for delivering LLINs at scale to reach and sustain universal coverage and to promote their consistent use. The project will also respond to changing epidemiology with effective and targeted tools and strategies that address emerging challenges such as outdoor biting mosquitoes and pyrethroid resistance.

Furthermore, operational research and policy work are a primary focus of MVC, with research driving policy and building the evidence base for tailored, targeted malaria prevention strategies.

“We’ve made great strides in malaria control in the past 15 years, but we have much more to do,” says Matthew Lynch, PhD, project director and director of CCP’s Global Program on Malaria. “Responding quickly and creatively to changing conditions requires improved data and expertise on the local level.”

Malaria affects approximately half of the world’s population, and is estimated to kill more than 600,000 people each year, most of whom are children living in Africa. For two decades, CCP has used strategic health communication to promote behaviors that help prevent and promptly treat malaria, and to advocate with global bodies and at the country level to increase funding for malaria control.

As a leading international authority on public health, the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health is dedicated to protecting health and saving lives. The Center for Communication Programs uses strategic behavior change, knowledge management, advocacy, capacity building and research and evaluation to achieve these goals. CCP’s staff of approximately 600 manages $100 million in yearly project revenue for large-scale health communication programs in more than 30 countries. Both innovative and evidence-based, our programs deliver results.  

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