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Madagascar malaria plan and strategy

Madagascar's national malaria control strategy divides the country into four separate intervention zones, each with a different set of priorities. The interventions in the eastern and western part of the country (stable malaria transmission) focus primarily on ITN distribution, case management, IPTp, home-based management of fever (HBMF), and community education. The interventions in the Central Highlands focus on IRS, case management, HBMF, epidemic surveillance and community education. In the South, the main activities are epidemiological surveillance, case management, HBMF, IPTp, ITNs, and community education.

The NMCP is currently preparing a National Strategy for 2007-2012, which has the long-term goal of malaria eradication in Madagascar by 2015, with a preparatory phase (1 year), attack phase (3-4 years), consolidation phase (3-5 years), and maintenance phase. The draft strategy document lays out ambitious targets for:

  • IRS in the Central Highlands and West Coast;
  • LLIN distribution will include all areas except the Central Highlands and will employ several strategies: free LLINs will be distributed to pregnant women at antenatal care (ANC)clinics, to infants at immunization visits and to children under five years of age through large-scale campaigns, and social marketing of highly subsidized LLINs;
  • Improved case management in health facilities combined with increased use of rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs) nationally and community-based treatment with ACTs in areas of stable transmission; and
  • IPTp in all areas but the Central Highlands