Program Overview
The creation of CBC Health Services Malaria Control and Prevention Program on February 1, 2017 is one of the evidences that the CBC Health Services has fully adopted the Global and National guidelines for malaria management with a central coordinating unit. The Malaria Control and Prevention Program has a strategic approach to malaria control within two major domains: (1) prevention and (2) case management. The program addresses barriers such as resistance to change, inadequate knowledge among stakeholders, insufficient capacities of community stakeholders for effective strategies in communication, education, and advocacy. The program has been doing diagnosis, treatment, follow-up and education on prevention of malaria.
The goal of the CBC Health Services Malarial Control and Prevention program is to accelerate progress towards the elimination of malaria in Cameroon; provide policy that ensures standard management reference for patients with malaria in order to attain uniform malaria case management in all her health facilities as a key to reducing morbidity, mortality and socio-economic losses.
Program Goal
Program Objectives
- Understanding and carrying out the right malaria diagnosis,
- Effective management and treatment of uncomplicated and severe malaria,
- Understanding and adopting the national guidelines on the different drugs to be administered and their doses,
- Carrying out post- treatment follow-up and documenting all malaria-related interventions
- Using recommended preventive measures as an indispensable tool in the management of malaria
Services of the Program
The guiding principle is to promote safe, effective, good quality, affordable, accessible and acceptable malaria treatment, and at the same time encourage rational drug use in order to minimize development of drug resistance. This is done through the following interventions:
- Education, Information and Communication.
- Training on the diagnosis, treatment, management and prevention of malaria in all health facilities.
- Data collection, analysis, reporting and storage.
- Health education to pregnant and nursing women at the ANC and IWF visits respectively.
- Writing and updating of communication guidelines for prevention of malaria
- Training of community health workers and primary healthcare nurses on management of malaria in the communities.
- Health research on malaria
Program Components
The malaria program of the CBC Health Services has the following components
- Writing of Guidelines for Malaria Management
- Celebration of the World Malaria Day
- Trainings and workshops (Training of nurses, screeners and pharmacy technicians and Primary Health Care (PHC) nurses.
- Malaria Management (Prevention, Case management, Malaria Surveillance
- Other activities of the Malaria Program
- International conferences
- Mobilization and Advocacy
- Information, Education and Communication (IEC)
- Reporting of malaria interventions
Research
The program is collaborating with Dr. Judie Odom of the Alabama University in a research that is carried out in BHM, and MBHD on prevalence of malaria in HIV positive women. Other research proposals are awaiting approval by the IRB with Dr. Ali Innocent of the University of Dschang and Dr. Tobias Apinjoh a Post-doctoral fellow in the USA. The program hopefully will start research activities if a malaria reference laboratory is finally constructed in Mutengene