Partners for a Malaria Free Zambia, by Bill Feldt, Eric Liswaniso, Tasha Chongo, and Wongani Zulu
Our speakers for April 16, 2023, were Bill Feldt, Eric Liswaniso, Tasha Chongo, and Wongani Zulu on behalf of Malaria Partners International and the Partnership for a Malaria Free Zambia (PMFZ). Bill is the Chair of Malaria Partners and a Rotarian in Seattle, Eric is the Program Manager, Tasha is chair of the Lusaka, Zambia Rotaract Club, and Wongani is a specialist who supports the effort to improve and maintain data management. Malaria Partners is a 501(c)(3) organization founded in 2009 by Rotarians in Seattle. In 2021, Rotary International, World Vision, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation announced the launch of PMFZ as part of Rotary’s first Program of Scale. (See Programs of Scale at My Rotary for a description of Rotary’s Program of Scale grant system).
Bill Feltz introduced Malaria Partners’ programs by noting that malaria is one of the world’s most deadly diseases. Over 200 million cases are diagnosed each year and over 600,000 children die annually from this disease. Malaria Partners’ efforts have traditionally included the introduction and handing out of insecticide treated bed nets and insecticide spraying, but since 2019 Partners has focused on training, equipping, and sustaining community health workers. Vaccines for malaria are difficult to develop but are on their way. When Malaria Partners found out about Rotary’s new Program of Scale process, they were approached by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and World Vision (an NGO) and asked to apply for a Program of Scale. Both the Gates Foundation and World Vision offered to match any contributions offered by Rotary International. RI agreed to contribute $2mm to the cause, and the Gates Foundation and World Vision each contributed $2mm, so PMFZ was originally organized with $6mm! In 2022, the Gates Foundation offered another $10 million, World Vision offered $5 million and RI is now considering its next level of contribution to the cause of the eradication of malaria.
Erik told us that Malaria Partners’ core objective is to inspire a Rotarian campaign to eradicate malaria and mobilize funding for global projects to alleviate the impact of malaria. PMFZ’s efforts focus on the 10 Zambian districts with the highest incidence of malaria. They train local healthcare workers, handle data management, strengthen local healthcare systems, and work towards social behavioral change. Once the community health workers go through the PMFZ training, they are provided with a smart phone equipped with an application that allows for tracking of key data. This data allows PMFZ to focus its efforts on the most important problems and to tailor its interventions more effectively. PMFZ supports 1910 healthcare facilities and is training over 2,500 healthcare workers treating 1.3 million Zambians. Tasha introduced her Rotaract club’s efforts towards supporting PMFZ. Their project is in Luano, a central Zambian district. They call their project “RotarAction.” They seek to address issues around late reporting, data validity, data inaccuracy, and under-reporting, all of which affect decision-making efforts. Wongani provided more detail on the importance of data in PMFZ’s efforts to eradicate malaria.
This is an amazing program and many thanks to all for enlightening us on this important step in combating a dreadful disease. Your work is so appreciated!
Click HERE to see a recording of the presentation. It will be available for a limited time.
