International Partner Highlights
In late 2013, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) helped Central American countries finalize a concept note based on the AMI/RAVREDA strategic framework and lines of work for submission to the Global Fund, related to the Elimination of Malaria from Mesoamerica and Hispaniola Initiative (EMMIE). The concept note was approved in February 2014. PAHO provided support to train Nicaraguan health workers from different levels in supply chain management for antimalarial medicines and supplies. As part of South-South collaboration, PAHO sponsored entomologists from Honduras to be trained in basic taxonomy at Colombia’s National Institute of Health. In South America, PAHO supported Brazil, Guyana, and Suriname’s review of their national strategies based on current epidemiological data, and also supported an entomological survey conducted in Suriname.
In March 2014, researchers from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) published an article with Nicaraguan researchers investigating the prevalence of molecular markers associated with drug resistant P. falciparum malaria in specimens obtained from the North Atlantic Autonomous Region of Nicaragua. Molecular surveillance tools are important in the context of the possible emergence of strains of P. falciparum that are resistant to Chloroquine (CQ) or sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine (SP) in Central America, both of which are currently used as first-line treatments in the sub region. No resistance has been seen thus far. In late 2013, PAHO procured supplies for CDC bottle tests to be used in Guatemala.
Management Sciences for Health (MSH)/SIAPS released numerous materials, including Criteria for Planning and Distributing Medicines in Areas with a Low Incidence of Malaria, Evaluation of the Performance of Malaria Control Strategies in Latin America Using Adequacy Criteria, and a success story entitled Guidelines at the Primary Level of Care Help Strengthen Antimalarial Supply Management of the Malaria Diagnosis and Treatment Network in Chocó, Colombia. MSH/ SIAPS and Links Media adapted an instructional guide for pharmaceutical management in English. Together with PAHO, in February 2014 MSH/SIAPS held a workshop in Suriname to share the results of a study on small-scale gold miners’ use of antimalarial medicines and access to proper diagnosis. Workshop participants generated ideas about how to use study findings to change behaviors among itinerant gold miners to prevent or contain the reduced efficacy of artemisinin derivatives, which are currently the standard for treating severe malaria.