Fighting Disease: Ethiopia
Malaria is a potentially fatal mosquito-borne parasitic disease, widespread in tropical and sub-tropical regions. Each year, the preventable disease, which causes high fevers and flu-like symptoms, kills nearly 1 million people (mostly children), with approximately 350-500 million cases reported annually worldwide. Learn more about the Carter Center's Malaria Control Program >
The Carter Center expanded its support for health work in Ethiopia to include a malaria control initiative in 2007. Malaria is reported to be the single largest cause of death in Ethiopia, the largest and most populous country in the Horn of Africa.
The initial focus was to assist the Ministry of Health in its goal of protecting all 50 million Ethiopians at risk for malaria through free distribution of long-lasting insecticidal mosquito nets to cover the entire population at-risk for malaria. From December 2006 to July 2007, The Carter Center purchased 3 million nets — the balance of nets needed by the national program — and helped to coordinate net delivery and distribution in more than 100 districts, protecting 18 million people at risk (36 percent of the total population at risk in Ethiopia).
The massive scale-up of insecticidal net distribution was an essential step toward achieving Ethiopia's ambitious goal of halving malaria deaths by 2015 and working towards elimination.
Also during this period, the Center managed two large representative household surveys. The surveys showed a threefold increase in the proportion of households owning at least one net in malarious areas. Also, the average number of nets per household increased fourfold.
Between 2007 and 2011, the program has supported the distribution of nearly 6 million long-lasting insecticidal bed nets in Ethiopia — about half of the 10 million total nets distributed with Carter Center support. Read the blog: 10 Million Bed Nets Help Worst-Affected Communities in Nigeria and Ethiopia Fight Malaria >
In addition to long-lasting insecticidal bed net distribution, the Center works with the federal and state ministries of health to develop the capacity of health workers to appropriately diagnose and treat cases of malaria, and to detect and respond to outbreaks and epidemics of malaria.
The Carter Center has worked with the Amhara Regional Health Program to enhance malaria surveillance to obtain weekly reports of malaria cases treated at the health facility level. This surveillance facilitates real-time response to increases in malaria cases and establishes the foundation for the eventual push for elimination in the Amhara Region.
The Ministry of Health also receives Carter Center support to assess bed net use, health worker performance of malaria monitoring and case management, and the availability of malaria diagnostic tests and treatments at the district level, as well as to address any problems identified during these assessments. In addition, the Center actively participates in national malaria technical advisory committee meetings.
The Center also has been a strategic partner for Ethiopia's nationwide Malaria Indicator Surveys (MIS) in 2007 and 2011 — standardized surveys that assess the progress made in malaria prevention and control efforts. The 2011 MIS surveyed nearly 50,000 people, making it the largest MIS carried out to date in any African country.
Despite great progress in scaling up malaria control activities in Ethiopia, without constant attention to malaria prevention activities, malaria epidemics remain a threat. The Center has assisted with the development of new guidelines for malaria surveillance and epidemic detection to ensure that outbreaks are dealt with quickly and the impact on public health minimized. The Carter Center also provides health education on malaria in the context of all of its community-based activities to encourage appropriate use and care of bed nets.
Read research highlights produced by the Malaria Control Program >
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ITN/LLINs Distributed in Ethiopia and Nigeria with Assistance from The Carter Center, 2004–2011 |
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