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Uganda

Uganda suffers from high levels of malaria transmission. Children and pregnant women are most affected; malaria causes almost half of all deaths in under-fives and almost a third of deaths during pregnancy. Between 2003 and 2006, GSK supported the Uganda Malaria Partnership Programme (UMPP), a consortium of four non government organisations (NGOs): AMREF, URCS, Africare and CDFU, that aimed to reduce malaria deaths among pregnant women and children.

The programme had three main objectives, to:

• encourage people to seek treatment when a household member showed symptoms
• encourage the use of insecticide-treated nets (ITNs), especially for pregnant women and children
• increase preventative treatment among pregnant women using antenatal care services

UMPP took an innovative approach, training 1,100 individuals to provide basic treatment and raise awareness in their communities. Called community drug distributors (CDDs), they were taught how to recognise high fever and treat patients, how to store drugs safely and when to refer patients to healthcare clinics. UMPP also used radio broadcasts, posters, films and role-plays performed in schools and at community meetings to get its messages across.

The programme covered three districts of Uganda reaching 230,000 people, a quarter of which were pregnant women or children under five.

The final evaluation study showed that CDDs had been very effective in treating childhood malaria with a significantly high number of lives being saved and similarly high numbers of children being taken for treatment at the onset of symptoms

Although the radio broadcasts encouraged people to buy and re-treat ITNs cost still proves a barrier. The UMPP has succeeded in bringing tax cuts for ITNs, but they still remain too expensive for many Ugandans. 

The Ugandan Ministry of health has incorporated UMPP strategy into its 2006-2011 malaria control plan. UMPP hopes it will provide funding to continue the programme in the three districts as well as expanding it to the rest of the country.

Our funding of this initiative has now ended but we believe our support will have a long-term, positive impact in the target communities.

 

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