AMREF Champions Community Case Management of Malaria

Malaria remains the leading cause of mortality and morbidity in sub-Saharan Africa. High malaria transmission intensity, limited access to adequate treatment, increasing parasite resistance to affordable and safe, inappropriate or delayed care seeking and inadequate quality of health services and poor access to health care, are some of the causes for this deleterious situation.

Many people with suspected malaria in sub-Saharan Africa, where medical services are not easily accessible, start treatment too late or do not receive it at all and die at home without contact with formal medical services. It is for this reason that the World Health Organization has recommended Community Case management of malaria (CCMM) as one of the strategies for improving access to prompt and effective malaria case management. CCMM is based on the evidence that well-trained community health workers can provide prompt and adequate care to patients close to their homes.

Many interventions for reducing the burden of malaria and other diseases depend on improved consumers’ knowledge about the disease and its control and this is enhanced by increased awareness. Acceptability of medical care by different ethnic groups is associated with the degree to which the services meet cultural values, norms, and expectations as well as a well informed community.

The Global Fund Malaria Round 10 Project is rolling out Community Case Management of Malaria (CCMM) in Western and Nyanza Regions.

The CCMM strategy of using community health workers for community case management of malaria which entails diagnosing using Rapid Diagnostic Tests (RDTs) to test for malaria parasites in the blood, and thereby treat all positive cases with artemether-Lumefantrine (AL).

This has posed some challenges particularly from the community members who are finding it difficult to transition from professionally trained health workers to CHWs who have also been properly trained and will be supervised by the health workers.