Approximately half of the world’s population is at risk of Malaria. In Kenya, 52 out of every 1000 children born do not live to the age of five years (KDHS 2014), with Malaria placing more than 70% of the population at risk. Malaria transmission and infection risk in Kenya are determined largely by altitude, rainfall patterns and temperature. Therefore, Malaria prevalence varies considerably by season and across geographic regions. The national Malaria prevalence rate stands at 8% (KMIS 2015), with an estimated 70% of Kenyans being at risk of Malaria.
Population Services Kenya, through the Health Communication and Marketing program (HCM), supported by the United States Agency for International Development/President’s Malaria Initiative (USAID/PMI), assisted the Government of Kenya, through the National Malaria Control Program (NMCP), to implement the objectives of the Kenya Malaria Strategy 2009-2018 (Revised 2014). Key strategies included the provision of long-lasting insecticidal nets through MCH clinics, mass distribution, and implementation of community SBCC activities.
To improve the capacity of the GoK in malaria control, PS Kenya provided technical support to the National Malaria Control Program (NMCP) through participation in technical working groups, case management, vector control, and operational research. This resulted in improved malaria program management.
Malaria Global Fund
PS Kenya is a sub-recipient (SR) of AMREF Health Africa, a Principal Recipient (PR) in implementing malaria activities under the new funding model of Global Fund for TB and Malaria (GFTAM) support in the malaria epidemic-prone highland county of Busia. The Kenya Malaria Indicator Survey (KMIS) 2015 reports a malaria prevalence of 27% in the country with endemic transmission trends. The activities are currently being implemented in all seven sub-counties of Busia, with the goal of accelerating contribution to achieving the national goal set in 2019 of reducing malaria incidence and deaths by at least 75% of 2016 levels by 2023 through the following interventions:
MRDT Audere Project 2021
Audere is a Seattle-based digital health nonprofit developing software to improve global health in the world’s most underserved communities. The team of passionate, innovative minds combines smartphone technology, computer vision and machine learning, and the best of cloud-based services to deliver healthcare technology solutions worldwide. Development of projects is funded by grants from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Just Works. 400 million RDTs are administered worldwide each year for malaria, of which tens of millions are mis-administered or misinterpreted. OpenRDT leads a community-based approach to improving the accuracy of rapid diagnostic testing (RDT). OpenRDT unifies how RDTs are digitized, interpreted, and tracked. It focuses on open, extensible software and standards.
In Kenya, Audere is partnering with PSI/PS Kenya to explore the use of OpenRDT in Busia county. The evaluation will focus on community health volunteers (CHVs) and private clinic health providers, exploring how these two study groups may benefit from the additional support offered by the OpenRDT reader.
The study’s primary objective is to describe the effect of smartphone integrated digital mRDT administration instructions and timers (which clearly indicate to the user when to read the mRDT) on the accuracy of mRDT interpretation by CHVs using the OpenRDT reader.
A secondary objective is to understand private clinic health worker perceptions of the app as a tool for both mRDT administration and case reporting to the MOH.
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PS Kenya played a leading role in partnership with the Ministry of Health in behavior change communication to bridge the gap between net ownership and net use. PS Kenya utilized innovative, evidence-based behavior change communication techniques to address barriers to net use. These included both mass media and interpersonal communication (IPC) to ensure a “surround and engage” approach. IPC channels include both one-on-one household visits and small group sessions where communities are gathered.
PS Kenya played a leading role in partnership with the Ministry of Health in behavior change communication to bridge the gap between net ownership and net use. PS Kenya utilized innovative, evidence-based behavior change communication techniques to address barriers to net use. These included both mass media and interpersonal communication (IPC) to ensure a “surround and engage” approach. IPC channels include both one-on-one household visits and small group sessions where communities are gathered.
The aim was to reduce mortality caused by malaria through increasing ownership and use of LLIN (long-lasting insecticide-treated nets).
PS Kenya was the leading partner in routine EPI/ANC LLIN distribution in Kenya, targeting 36 malaria endemic, epidemic prone and some seasonal transmission countries as spelt out in the Kenya Malaria Strategy. Based on the target population needs (pregnant women and children under 1) per target country, PS Kenya distributed approximately 200,000 LLINs per month and an average of 2.4 million LLINs per year through this routine channel.
In addition, PS Kenya, through the US Presidential Malaria Initiative (PMI) funding, successfully completed a mass net distribution of 3.8 million nets in 5 targeted malaria epidemic prone counties in Western and Nyanza, covering approximately 7.6 million people.
Leveraging on DFID funding, approximately 800,000 social marketing nets were distributed on an annual basis.
