Quarterly Progress Report (April – June, 2017)

The PAMO consortium comprises five members: PATH, Johns Hopkins University Center for Communication Programs (JHUCCP), Broad Reach Institute for Training & Education (BRITE), JHPIEGO, and Zambian Center for Applied Health Research and Development (ZCAHRD). PAMO works with the Ministry of Health (MOH) and the National Malaria Elimination Centre (NMEC) to strengthen implementation of malaria control and elimination efforts. PAMO's primary focus is on district, facility, and community levels to support proven malaria interventions in alignment with the National Malaria Strategic Plan. During the quarter of April to June 2017, PAMO supported the NMEC and the Luapula Provincial Health Office (PHO) with micro-planning and the household registration exercise in all 11 districts of the province. This undertaking involved training of trainers at the district level, followed by training of 1350 Community-Based Volunteers (CBVs) and 1350 Village Headmen (VHMs). The household registration exercise revealed that 1,005,839 Long Lasting Insecticide Treated Nets (LLINs) were required to achieve universal coverage of LLINs in Luapula Province. PAMO also supported numerous planning and malaria task force (MATF) meetings at different levels in support of the preparations for the mass distribution campaign. PAMO is supporting the MOH to improve malaria case management in public health facilities through Outreach Training and Supportive Supervision (OTSS). During this quarter, PAMO supported training for supervisors and health facility staff as well as OTSS visits in the PAMO provinces. PAMO also supported the PHOs in each province to train a total of 131 district supervisors in OTSS, case management, and mentorship. Additionally, PAMO supported the PHOs in each of the four provinces to train 172 health facility staff in malaria case management. To improve delivery of intermittent preventive treatment in pregnancy (IPTp) using sulphadoxine-pyrimethamine, PAMO supported the PHO in the four provinces to train 136 ANC providers in focused antenatal care. To strengthen provincial and district health management information systems (HMIS), PAMO supported a number of activities during this quarter. 97 health facility staff were trained in HMIS, and a data quality audit was conducted in all the provinces. A summary report of this audit is provided as an appendix. The key achievements and activities undertaken by the PAMO consortium during this quarter are described below. Objective 1: Support proven malaria interventions in alignment with the National Malaria Elimination Strategic Plan (2017-2021) of the Ministry of Health. PAMO provided material support to the NMEC to host one quarterly Technical Working Group (TWG) meeting for each of the five focus areas, including Insecticide Treated Nets, Case Management, Social and Behavior Change Communications, Safe Motherhood, Surveillance, M&E, and Operations Research (SMEO). The Safe Motherhood TWG achieved a significant milestone by obtaining the Ministry's official approval of the World Health Organization recommendation to use a low dose of 400 micrograms folic acid supplementation as part of the antenatal care. PAMO provided technical and material support to the Ministry of Health to move along this process through this TWG. The Case Management TWG met to revise the Treatment guidelines to align with the new policy on Folic Acid. The NMEC is working to release a "Fifth Edition" of the Treatment Guidelines this year. PAMO shall continue to closely follow this process and provide technical and materials assistance if required. The Social & Behavior Change Communications TWG met to revise and adapt the Champions Communication Strategy. The adaptation of the first draft Champion Communities tool kit is now done, and LLIN communication messages have been integrated into the tool kit. Community and mass media activities will roll out under the banner of "Champion Communities" and the "Malaria Ends With Me" national brand. The ITN TWG focused on preparations for the upcoming mass distribution campaign. Long lasting insecticide treated nets (LLINs) have been associated with sharp decreases in malaria in countries where national malaria programs have achieved universal LLIN coverage. PAMO is providing technical and material support to the NMEC to strengthen distribution of LLINs in order to achieve and sustain high coverage of LLINs. PAMO supported the NMEC in conducting a household registration exercise in all 11 districts of Luapula Province, which revealed that 1,005,839 LLINs were required to achieve universal coverage of LLINs in the province. PAMO also supported the NMEC in conducting a data quality audit in all the provinces. The audit aimed to assess the quality of