RTI International and USAID continue partnership to fight malaria in Guinea

Research Triangle Park, NC – The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is partnering with RTI International on a new program to decrease malaria prevalence in Guinea. The Guinea Malaria Bilateral StopPalu+ Program will continue to support the Guinean National Malaria Control Program to reduce the malaria burden in the country by strengthening the government’s capacity to improve prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of malaria. The program is funded by the USAID led - U.S. President’s Malaria Initiative (PMI), and is a follow-on to the successful StopPalu program, which RTI led from 2013 through 2017.

“We are proud of the progress we have made under StopPalu, and are dedicated to continuing to work closely with USAID and the government of Guinea to improve health outcomes for the citizens of Guinea,” said RTI President and CEO E. Wayne Holden, Ph. D. “StopPalu+ will continue to work towards the goal of elimination of malaria and ultimately contribute to a safer and healthier world.”

Under StopPalu, RTI contributed to reducing malaria prevalence in Guinea from 44 percent to 15 percent between 2012 and 2016. RTI has worked for more than a decade with national governments in Africa, Asia, and Latin America to prevent and control malaria.

StopPalu+ will build on gains made under StopPalu and address the remaining gaps in malaria prevention and control by supporting essential health service delivery, behavior change communication, capacity building and supervision, surveillance, and monitoring and evaluation. The effort will work across 19 districts in Guinea to increase the use of insecticide-treated nets, provide preventive therapy for pregnant women, and strengthen prompt care seeking and treatment. The program has a lifetime budget of approximately $28 million and is expected to run from December 2017 through December 2022.

In close collaboration with the Guinea National Malaria Control program, StopPalu+ will focus on the following interventions to help achieve the goal of reducing malaria mortality and morbidity by 75 percent compared to 2016 levels:

• Mobilizing the community to acknowledge the importance of malaria
• Implementing multi-channel social behavior communication to expand the geographic reach and penetration of malaria interventions
• Strengthening leadership, management, and system capacity at regional, district, and community levels of the government of Guinea and Guinea civil society
• Integrating the malaria control response into multi-sectoral service delivery
• Engaging in continuous innovation to maximize programmatic effectiveness and efficiencies

RTI’s partners on the project include Jhpiego, Medical Care Development International (MCDI), and the Centre Africain de Formation pour le Développement (CENAFOD).