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Greetings Rotary friends!
We gather at 5 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 2nd, at Pat’s Pizza on Pleasant Street for fellowship, pizza, and fun. At our evening meetings, we don’t have a speaker, agenda, or zoom, but we always fill the hour with great conversation, many laughs, and some really good ideas. Please join us.
I recently heard from our Seattle 4 Rotary friend Charley Dickey who shared great news about progress fighting malaria in Africa. He forwarded a letter reading:
Copperbelt Malaria Elimination Phase 2 (Zambia) Update
January 26, 2022
Dear Rotarian Supporters of Copperbelt Malaria Elimination (GG2095385):
As you may remember from our September 2021 update, your club contributed financial support to this $997,229 Rotary Global Grant project that was approved in September 2020 initiated on May 17, 2021. The project had the following objectives:
- Train, equip and deploy 1,055 community health workers (CHWs) in Kalulushi, Luanshya and Mufulira Districts of Zambia's Copperbelt Province, benefiting 550,000 people.
- Reduce the incidence of malaria among the beneficiary population by 90% from current levels (as has been achieved in Zambia’s Southern Province).
- Reduce the malaria diagnosis and treatment burden on rural health centers and hospitals by half or more, from 70% of cases now, thus freeing up budget and staff resources for other priority public health problems.
The Rotary Club of Seattle, the lead international club, raised funding from your club and 24 other Rotary clubs, 7 Rotary Districts, and Malaria Partners International--donations that were by a malaria project matching fund established at the Seattle Rotary Service Foundation by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. All these contributions were matched by the Rotary Foundation at 50% and 100% (district funds). The host sponsor of the project was the Rotary Club of Mufulira, now approaching its 60 anniversary. The CHWs trainees were chosen from their home villages and each is responsible for bringing basic health care to 500- 600 of their fellow villagers through the diagnosis and treatment of malaria, diarrhea, and respiratory illness. During 2022, their work will be augmented by Rotarian-led public education programs, using social media, radio, school presentations, drama group field enactments and meetings with community leaders, chiefs and religious leaders to assure maximum public awareness and local support. The COVID-19 pandemic restricted trainee cohorts to about 30 persons so that social distancing would be maintained. In spite of the restrictions necessitated by the pandemic, the National Malaria Elimination Centre (NMEC), Provincial and District Medical Officers and Zambian Rotarians put forth a plan to complete CHW training by the end of 2021--in just seven months. Completion of the training and equipping stage of the project was celebrated December 18, 2021 in Luanshya, with the graduation of the final 30 trainee cohort.
This significant accomplishment was achieved by a partnership of three Zambian Rotary clubs: Mufulira (lead club), Kalulushi, and Luanshya, supported by the Rotary Club of Seattle as well as the Rotary club malaria collaborative in Zambia, Malaria Partners Zambia. In 2022, the project enters the full implementation phase where CHWs' work in their home villages is supervised, supply chain issues are identified and corrected, and the malaria data reporting is compiled and analyzed to determine the impact of each CHW and all CHWs collectively in reducing the incidence of malaria in the Copperbelt.
To Rotarians in each of the 27 clubs and 7 districts that supported Copperbelt 2, we are grateful for your support and, in spite of the COVID - 19 constraints, are pleased to report the progress that your contribution has enabled. Our next update will report on the life-saving and disease reductions that CHWs are achieving.
For an update presentation to your committee, club or district please feel free to contact us.
Dr. Frederick M Kaoma Jim Moore
Primary Contact GG2095385 Primary Contact GG2095385
Rotary Club of Mufulira Rotary Club of Seattle
Frederick.Kaoma@mopani.com.zm Jmoore@avogadro.us
Isn’t it amazing what our modest investment is doing to save lives on the other side of the world?!
Lisa
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