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ANTANANARIVO, Madagascar, March 23, 2005 — PSI/Madagascar has ordered one million Super Moustiquaire insecticide-treated nets (ITNs) representing the largest single ITN procurement contract yet for PSI anywhere in the world. The nets will prevent an estimated 3.25 million cases of malaria. PSI/Madagascar signed an agreement for $19.3 million with the Global Fund and the Malagasy Ministry of Foreign Affairs in February and is the principal recipient for the two-year contract. PSI will market one million ITNs and 6 million PaluStop malaria PPT kits for children under five through targeted subsidy. These products will provide an estimated 6.8 million person years of malaria protection. With this new infusion of ITNs, PSI/Madagascar expects to achieve the 60% target group coverage by the end of the two-year program or sooner, in collaboration with the Ministry of Health and Family Planning (MOHFP) and Roll Back Malaria (RBM) partners. Preliminary survey results show that PSI has already achieved 20% household coverage in Madagascar. "The early arrival of these nets allows Madagascar to hit the ground running to achieve our ambitious fourth round Global Fund objectives," said PSI/Madagascar Director of Operations Lalah Rambeloson. "We were also able to plan to be ready for the next rainy season in Madagascar, with the largest batch, 240,000 ITNs, arriving in October." This new grant brings PSI/Madagascar's total Global Fund awards to date to $16.2 million. Madagascar was the first PSI program to be named principal recipient on a Global Fund grant. In 2003, PSI/Madagascar signed a three-year, $2 million Global Fund grant to support social marketing of ITNs and a $5 million three-year grant to support Top Réseau franchised adolescent reproductive health centers and Protector plus condom social marketing. Both were among the first Global Fund programs to reach their Phase I objectives and be approved for Phase II funding. "The Round 1 grant from the Global Fund allowed us to bring our pilot Mama Super Moustiquaire program to a national scale, from just two initial districts," said Super Moustiquaire Brand Coordinator Eliane Razafimandimby. "Our sales increased three-fold overnight. We no longer had to concentrate on marketing issues, the nets sold themselves. The main challenge was managing supply chain logistics and maintaining order among our vendors." PSI/Madagascar's experience in implementing a subsidized ITN pilot program funded by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Madagascar's eastern Toamasina province showed Roll Back Malaria partners that subsidizing the consumer price greatly increases demand for nets and coverage rates among target groups. Thus, to reach the Abuja targets, the MOHFP and RBM partners developed a strategy to scale up the distribution of highly subsidized ITNs via social marketing. In May 2003, PSI/Madagascar was chosen as the distributor and promoter for the national program by the MOHFP, with financing from the World Bank to purchase ITNs. — Mary Caron, PSI/Madagascar
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