Can better communications end malaria?

The Roll Back Malaria Partnership has unveiled a strategic framework to better integrate communications in national malaria-control programs. Photo by: Kevin McKidd / CC BY-NC-ND

Access to and availability of malaria interventions have been improving through the years. In Africa, where the disease burden is high, more people own insecticide-treated nets, more women receive intermittent preventive treatment and more children are given anti-malaria medicines within 24 hours.

But while access to these life-saving interventions has improved, challenges remain: low funding, differing behaviors and communication shortfalls. The last, evidence suggests, can mobilize politicians to adopt policies that could reduce drug costs, ramp up knowledge and awareness of malaria among communities, and motivate more people to protect themselves from contracting the disease.

The Roll Back Malaria Partnership has recognized the importance of proper communication in eliminating the global threat of malaria. At the recently concluded 13th East Africa Subregional Network annual meeting, RBM unveiled a strategic framework that will help nongovernmental organizations and governments integrate communications in their malaria control strategies.

The framework consists of six actions points, namely:

To determine whether the framework will have a positive impact on malaria control and prevention efforts, the action points will be measured against four indicators.

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