By Mandy McAnally, PSI
Bill Gates, co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, kicked off the 63rd Annual Meeting of the Society of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine in New Orleans, L.A. to a grand ovation. “I really do believe malaria can be eradicated in my lifetime,” he said to a packed ballroom, noting. “I turned 59 the other day.”
Gates told the Associated Press on Sunday that he plans to increase his foundation’s malaria program budget by 30 percent, to more than $200 million annually. The amount is in addition to the foundation’s other donations to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. This is welcome news to PSI, which is working with the Gates Foundation and partners on malaria control efforts around the world.
If you are attending the 63rd Annual Meeting of the Society of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, join PSI speakers and thought leaders at our symposia and poster sessions tomorrow through Thursday. See the full schedule below:
Tuesday, 4th November 2014
10.15am-12.30pm
Sheraton – Grand Ballroom A (Fifth Floor)
Symposium #74: Improving Access to Quality Malaria Medicines and Diagnostics by Effectively Engaging the Private Health Sector
Co-chairs: Dr Lawrence Barat, USAID-PMI; Dr Tom Kanyok, The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation; Dr Desmond Chavasse, PSI
Speakers: Theodoor Visser, CHAI; Katie Maloney, CHAI; Martin Dale, PSI; Hnin Su Su Khin, PSI/Myanmar; Henrietta Allen, PSK in Cambodia
Panelists: Dr Siv Sovannaroth, National Center for Parasitology, Entomology and Malaria Control, Cambodia; Dr. Thaung Hlaing, National Malaria Control Programme, Myanmar
About: PSI will co-chair the symposium on improving access to quality malaria medicines and diagnostics with the Gates Foundation and the President’s Malaria Initiative. This discussion will highlight the role of the private sector in ensuring quality case management.
Noon-1.45pm
Poster Session B:
Stimulating a private sector market for malaria RDTs: baseline results from Kenya, Madagascar and Tanzania
Stephen Poyer1, Stephanie Dolan1, Purity Njagi1, Rhoune Ochako2, Terry Muchoki2, Jacky Raharinjatovo3, Rova Ratsimandisa3, Daniel Michael3, Rachel Thompson 1, Kavita Misra1, Furaha Kabuye4, Nikki Charman1
1PSI, Nairobi, Kenya; 2PS Kenya; 3PSI/Madagascar; 4PSI/ Tanzania
About: A partnership between PSI, Malaria Consortium, FIND, Johns Hopkins School of Public Health and WHO funded by UNITAID. The project aims to stimulate the creation of a private sector market for malaria RDTs, by (i) increasing both access to and demand for quality-assured RDTs, (ii) improving private providers’ fever case management skills and (iii) developing and implementing a roadmap for public-private engagement to guide policy and regulation. PSI is implementing in Kenya, Madagascar, and Tanzania (mainland) and Malaria Consortium is working in Nigeria and Uganda.
Trends in antimalarial medicine and malaria diagnostic availability in Cambodia between 2009 and 2013
Kevin Duff1, Sochea Phok2, Henrietta Allen2, Megan Littrell3
1ACTwatch & PSI (Nairobi, Kenya); 2Population Services Khmer, Cambodia; 3ACTwatch & PSI (Washington, DC)
The potential to Test and Treat malaria in Nigeria: results from national outlet surveys (2009-2013)
Raymond K. Sudoi1, Julius Njogu1, Chinazo N. Ujuju2, Jennifer Anyanti2, Megan Littrell3
1ACTwatch & PSI (Nairobi, Kenya); 2Society for Family Health/Nigeria; 3ACTwatch & PSI (Washington, DC)
About ACTwatch: PSI will discuss new data from ACTwatch, our multi-country research project designed to fill evidence gaps on malaria diagnostics, antimalarial medicines and fever case management in the private and public sectors. The project is being funded by the Gates Foundation, the British government (DFID) and UNITAID. The new data focuses on trends in availability of antimalarial medication and diagnostics in Cambodia from 2009-20013. Read the Cambodia report here.
Wednesday, 5th November 2014
Noon-1.45pm
Poster Session C:
Using DHIS2 for routine monitoring of quality of health services in the private sector
Purity Njagi1, Martin Dale1, Victor Lara1, Preston Izulla2, Stephanie Dolan1, Nikki Charman1
1Population Services International, Nairobi, Kenya; 2Population Services Kenya, Nairobi, Kenya
About: PSI is focused on ensuring high quality case management at the private provider level. The Monitoring for Performance Improvement Framework is based on the use of innovative technology – electronic tablets for provider supervision and an electronic database, DHIS2. Data is used for monitoring case management performance in the private sector; as an evidence base to guide policy development; to bridge the public/private service delivery gap. This approach is now the basis of a global strategy within PSI, in Cambodia, Kenya and Madagascar and soon in Angola, DRC, Myanmar, Nigeria and Tanzania.
Private sector readiness for malaria case management and malaria market composition before and after the AMFm – results from three pilot countries
Megan Littrell1, Julius Njogu2, Raymond Sudoi2, Kevin Duff2, Hana Bilak3, Vamsi Vasireddy2, Kate O’Connell4, Stephen Poyer5
1ACTWatch, Population Services International, Washington, DC; 2ACTwatch, Population Services International, Nairobi, Kenya, 3Population Services International Europe, Chevry, France; Independent Consultant, Yangon, Myanmar; 5Population Services International, Nairobi, Kenya
Trends in availability of malaria medicines and diagnostics in Kinshasa, DRCongo, from 2009-2013
Julie Archer1, Godéfroid Mpanya2, Stephen Poyer3, Antoinette Tshefu4, Willy Onema2, Jamie Ciesla2, Joris Losimba Likwela5, Megan Littrell6
1ACTwatch, Population Services International, Nairobi, Kenya; 2Association de Santé Familiale/PSI, Kinshasa, DRCongo; 3 Population Services International, Nairobi, Kenya; 4Ecole de Santé Publique de Kinshasa, Kinshasa, DRCongo; 5Programme National de Lutte contre le Paludisme, Kinshasa, DRCongo; 6ACTWatch, Population Services International, Washington, DC
Auditing Village Health Teams’ capacity for management of malaria: results of the 2013 ACTwatch Uganda Outlet Survey
Julius Njogu 1, John H. Rogers1, Henry Kaula2, Vamsi Vasireddy V1, Megan Littrell3
1ACTwatch, Population Services International, Nairobi, Kenya; 2Program for Accessible health, Communication and Education-Uganda (PACE), Kampala, Uganda; 3ACTwatch, Population Services International, Washington, DC
Thursday, 6th November
10.15am-12pm
Sheraton – Rhythms (Second Floor)
Symposium #177: Market-based approaches to improving public health
Co-chairs: Dr Alexandra Cameron, UNITAID; Dr Prashant Yadav, University of Michigan’s William Davidson Institute
Speakers: Jennifer Daily, UNITAID; Anne Musuva, Population Services Kenya; Yasmin Madan, Population Services International; Vicky McDonald, Abt Associates
Stay tuned at psiimpact.com/astmh2014 for real time updates from the conference.
Photo credit: gatesnotes.com