Soul Beat Malaria Extra - Issue #5

This issue of the Soul Beat Malaria Extra shares with you a variety of recent malaria news, resources, and initiatives that are using communication strategies to raise awareness about malaria, and to spark action to end this disease. Contents: News on malaria activities in Mozambique and Liberia and the latest on the 2011 Country Roadmaps; resources which include a malaria guide for faith leaders and campaign tools used in a malaria project in Ethiopia; and malaria initiatives that work with licensed chemical sellers, and that use superheroes and advocacy for malaria prevention. We also feature two events dealing with health communication that may be of interest to organisations working in malaria.

We hope you find these selections useful and invite you to visit the Soul Beat Africa Malaria website, where you will find more resources. If you have not yet registered, we hope you will take the time to join us on the Malaria Online Social Network for knowledge sharing and upcoming discussion and exploration of social and behaviour change communication (SBCC) for malaria prevention, control, and treatment in Africa.

In many countries, PMI works closely with private sector organisations to extend the reach of malaria control. In August 2010, PMI joined with ArcelorMittal to distribute Insecticide Treated Nets (ITNs) and conduct Indoor Residual Spraying (IRS) for residents in the village where most of the ArcelorMittal workers' families live.


Source: USAID

This sermon guide was designed to help Muslim and Christian religious leaders understand the dangers of malaria, and what they can do to help save the lives of the people under their care. According to the publishers, the Center for Interfaith Action on Global Poverty (CIFA), religious leaders have a profound ability to change statistics of people dying of malaria, and to lead the fight against malaria at the community level. As respected and trusted local leaders, they have credibility and influence in the lives of people in their communities, thus they need to be equipped to use this influence to educate their congregations about malaria control.

These tools, designed for the Malaria Prevention Campaign in Ethiopia and launched in the Oromia Region by the C-Change Program, recognise the role communities can play in taking specific actions. The focus of the campaign is around small, "doable actions" that families carry out to protect themselves against malaria. The community volunteers, under direction from the Community Mobilisation Committee (CMC), energise and support their communities, families, and schools to take the actions necessary to prevent malaria. Materials and tools developed by C-Change include campaign and training guides, flipcharts and other materials such as a scorecard, a sticker and a t-shirt.

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.

Mobilize Against Malaria (MAM) Ghana is working to build the capacity of Licensed Chemical Sellers (LCS) and their counter assistants in the Ashanti and Brong Ahafo regions to recognise and respond to malaria symptoms, while also conducting a campaign to raise awareness among the general public about the symptoms of malaria and the importance of early recognition and prompt, effective treatment. The overall strategy is to create "demand" through community awareness and ensure "supply" through LCS education. Launched in 2006, the 5-year programme was initiated by FHI 360 (formerly Family Health International) in partnership with Pfizer, in collaboration with the Ghana Social Marketing Foundation (GSMF).

The NetWorks programme, running from 2009 to 2014, is working to prevent malaria in Nigeria, Senegal, and Uganda by increasing access to long lasting insecticidal nets (LLINs) and promoting consistent use. Led by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health Center for Communication Programs (JHUCCP), with support from the United States Agency for International Development, a consortium of partners is working to develop country-specific strategies towards universal coverage (UC) that are both comprehensive and flexible, combining net distribution with behaviour change communication, as well as research, policy, and advocacy.

Esquadrão da Prevenção (Prevention Squad) is a multi-media campaign that features cartoon superheroes on television and radio, in print materials, and in person, who protect children from malaria and water-borne illness. Launched in 2010 by Population Services International (PSI) Angola, the campaign is designed to raise awareness about malaria and water-borne illness prevention among children by encouraging parents to more consistently follow healthy practices with their children, such as using bed nets, treating water, and washing hands with soap.

This four-page case study was prepared by Mobilising for Malaria (M4M), a three-year (2006-09) Malaria Consortium advocacy programme supported by GlaxoSmithKline's African Malaria Partnership that aimed to raise awareness of Malaria in Africa by supporting civil society and the media.

The AfriHealth conference was first run in 2007 to bring together researchers, medical practitioners, and information and communication technology (ICT) personnel to share information on the developments in the use of ICT to improve health care in Africa. The focus of AfriHealth 2011 is to question the extent of current research and development using ICT technology, and the amount of effort being made to progress ICT developments in the African Healthcare arena. The organisers say the conference will be a meeting point for all healthcare participants to share ideas, showcase developments, and develop action plans to speed up improvements in the industry.

Under the guiding theme of addressing the needs of the most vulnerable – women and children, EE5 will explore the state-of-the-art in Entertainment Education and position the field for the next generation of innovations. It will bring together a variety of stakeholders from around the world to examine best practices and new advances, conduct hands-on, participatory learning and explore techniques to improve effectiveness. EE5 will inspire the entertainment industry, public health programmers, researchers, donors, government entities and others to harness the power of Entertainment Education and improve health and well being around the world.

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.

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If you are active on or interested in effective malaria action please join the Soul Beat: Malaria Social Network

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 FHI360, and do not necessarily reflect the views of USAID or the United States Government.