Soul Beat Malaria Extra - Issue #2

This issue of the Malaria Extra focuses on a new element to be considered by countries applying for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria: Round 11 Call For Proposals. This new element is called Community System Strengthening (CSS), and it focuses on 6 core components: enabling environments and advocacy; community networks, linkages, partnerships, and coordination; resources and capacity building; community activities and service delivery; organisational and leadership strengthening; and monitoring & evaluation and planning. The offerings below highlight these aspects of CSS in the Africa malaria context.

The Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria has opened its Round 11 call for proposals. This summary highlights some of the changes in the application process for Round 11, noting that the disease proposal form has been restructured to improve the flow of information requested in the application, which has a deadline date of December 15 2011.

This article reports on a rollout of new cell phone surveys for malaria-prevention work in Nigeria undertaken by the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) and the Nigerian Red Cross Society (NRCS). Volunteer interviewers work with mobile phone software to gather, store, and upload public health information, which can then be quickly analysed. According to the report, the latest MST surveys using mobile phones are being used to evaluate the impact of a mass distribution and hang-up campaign by NRCS volunteers involving more than half a million long-lasting insecticide-treated nets, funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), with support from an IFRC team in the state capital.

Roll Back Malaria: 8th Malaria Advocacy Working Group Meeting

The 8th Malaria Advocacy Working Group Meeting of Roll Back Malaria will take place in Geneva, Switzerland from 5-6 September 2011. The Malaria Advocacy Working Group (MAWG) coordinates Roll Back Malaria's (RBM) advocacy efforts in order to increase the allocation of resources for malaria control for scaling-up malaria prevention, treatment, and operational research.
The purpose of the MAWG is:
• to provide strategic counsel to the Partnership and Partnership Secretariat on advocacy
• to consult with other working groups to produce timely and accurate information and tools for use in advocacy
• to provide information on opportunities for effective advocacy at global, regional, and national levels
• to work with RBM Partners and working groups to ensure the wide dissemination of accurate information on resource allocations to inform the malaria community of current status and improve accountability both by donors and implementers.

This document outlines the concepts, history, and perimeters of the Community Systems Strengthening Framework (CSS). As outlined here, the Framework is primarily intended to strengthen civil society engagement with the Global Fund, with a focus on HIV, tuberculosis, and malaria. It outlines the development approach taken, which seeks to 'bring balance back to health care and puts families and communities at the hub of the health system'. The document identifies the Six Core Components of Community Systems (CSS) Frameworks.

This document outlines the strategies used in a community-based malaria prevention project implemented by Plan Benin from 2007 to 2009. The project was designed to contribute to the reduction of child and maternal mortality rates by improving behaviours related to the prevention and treatment of malaria. It was funded by United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and overseen by the University Research Co. through the USAID-funded Quality Assurance and Health Care Improvement projects.

According to this strategy document, participatory methods can be used to improve community-based programme implementation through adapting local behaviour patterns to best practices for a health issue (in this case, malaria), thus achieving significant results in a short period of time and at a low cost by maximising methods that are proving successful. This can be extended by adapting best practices to other localities in the region/country through a controlled scale-up strategy.

The President's Malaria Initiative (PMI) seeks to reduce malaria-related deaths by 50 percent in 15 focus countries in Africa by expanding coverage of effective malaria prevention and treatment measures to the most vulnerable populations: pregnant women and children under five years of age. To access communication materials developed by USAID/PMI partners go to the PMI Special Collection on C-Hub. C-Hub is a service of C-Change that provides a place to find and share communication materials on development.

This impact video, produced by Child Health Now and WorldVision Now, outlines how malaria has become Africa's deadliest predator. The video documents the history and impact of malaria through interviews with affected families and parents whose children have died or become severely ill from malaria. The video outlines the importance of using insecticide-treated nets and outlines how insufficient anti-malarial medications impact on health care workers and people infected by malaria.

The Soul Beat Malaria Extra e-magazine, supported by PMI and C-Change and implemented by Soul Beat Africa, is an e-magazine that highlights social and behaviour change communication (SBCC) case studies, reports, analyses, and resources related to Malaria. Please encourage your colleagues and friends to subscribe here and select Malaria under Development Issues.

NightWatch, launched in September 2010, is a one-year pilot project implemented by Lalela Project and Malaria No More that uses 30-second messages and SMSs (text messages) to encourage the use of mosquito nets in malaria-endemic communities. The interactive media campaign and complementary grassroots initiatives are designed to spread key messages around when and how the malaria-carrying mosquito strikes.

The programme was designed around the idea of "taking back the night" to create positive behavioural changes to increase mosquito net usage. In the evenings, just before the malaria-carrying mosquito comes out, organisers broadcast messages by leaders and celebrities via radio, television, and SMS to emphasise the need to consistently use bed nets.

Launched in 2011, Kiss Malaria Goodbye is an initiative implemented by Doctors Without Borders in South Africa that works to raise awareness, support, and funds for malaria treatment and eradication activities in Africa, particularly artemisinen-based combination therapy and malaria rapid diagnostic tests. The initiative uses new technologies such as SMS and online social networking platforms, and encourages people to record kisses as part of the message to "Kiss Malaria Goodbye."

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Share your knowledge
Do you have programme descriptions, strategic planning documents, training manuals, or other resources you think are useful to other working on SBCC and Malaria? If you do, please go to the knowledge sharing area of Soul Beat Africa's Malaria Network where, once you've registered, you can upload the resources you want to share.

This publication is made possible by the support of the American people through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) under the terms of Agreement No. GPO-A-00-07-00004-00. The contents are the responsibility of The Communication Initiative and the C-Change project, managed by FHI 360, and do not necessarily reflect the views of USAID or the United States Government.