Rwanda, Twubakane And Malaria: The Story So Far
Since the Twubakane Program started in Rwanda in 2005 it has taken significant steps toward addressing malaria—the country's leading cause of morbidity and mortality. The goal of the program's malaria activities is to increase the accessibility and use of malaria interventions in communities and health facilities. Twubakane works in 12 Rwandan districts, covering more than one-third of the country and serving over three million people. The program takes a multi-pronged approach to malaria prevention and care, including intermittent preventative treatment for pregnant women (IPT), home-based management (HBM) of febrile illness, technical assistance to introduce artemesinin combined therapies, distribution of insecticide-treated bed nets (ITN), vector control activities, development of a community health information system (CHIS) and monitoring and evaluation of malaria interventions.
During the past year, Twubakane's achievements have included:
- Training 800 health care providers from all districts of Rwanda in IPT
- Using the IPT program as an outlet to distribute ITNs at 121 antenatal care sites
- Training 42 health care providers in ten health centers to act as HBM trainers and supervisors
- Sensitizing health care providers to HBM in ten health centers in three districts and sensitizing political authorities in those districts to HBM
- Developing a public information campaign on HBM and its potential benefits, culminating in the election of 662 HBM distribution agents
- Collaborating with Rwanda's Ministry of Health in the development of protocols for the CHIS to ensure a smooth transfer of information between community and national health information systems
- Assisting the national malaria control program to procure sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine (SP) for country-wide usage.
Each of these achievements enables another. For example, health care providers trained in IPT can help distribute ITNs, and the districts' community health information system can inform Rwanda's political authorities where health care providers for HBM are needed. By developing a synergistic set of activities, Twubakane renders each action more powerful than it would be alone.
As Twubakane enters its third year, planned activities include training more health care providers in IPT, supplying more ITNs through upcoming measles vaccination campaigns, scaling-up HBM services and implementing CHIS throughout all 12 districts where the program works.