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URC Projects among those Featured in President and First Lady’s Africa Trip

During their Africa trip in February, President and Mrs. Bush visited Benin and Tanzania, where URC projects were featured in the visit.

In Benin, the first country on the tour, the President congratulated the Government of Benin on their Malaria Initiative, particularly the successful distribution of bed nets. During a press conference President Bush said, “We can save lives with an aggressive, comprehensive malaria strategy and that’s exactly what you’re putting in place here in Benin. I want to thank you for your leadership on that very important issue. We will continue to help.” 

The President’s Malaria Initiative (PMI), with a goal of reducing malaria-related mortality by 50 percent in three years, was officially launched in Benin on February 14, 2008, just before the arrival of President and Mrs. Bush. The PMI is designed to support rapid scale-up of malaria prevention and treatment activities in high-burden countries in sub-Saharan Africa. With a budget of U.S. $1.2 billion over five years, the PMI covers 15 countries in Africa. Benin was selected in 2007 as one of the countries to participate in the PMI.

The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Mission, which manages the PMI work in Benin, elicited help from several partners to organize the launch. URC’s bilateral program in Benin, the Projet Intégré de Santé Familiale (PISAF), in collaboration with Population Services International (PSI), played a significant role in the launch’s success by organizing and overseeing all aspects of the event. View PDF of letter from USAID's Mission Director in Benin congratulating Dr. Aguima Tankoano and the PISAF team (2nd page is English Translation).

The launch ceremony was held in Benin’s commercial capitol, Cotonou, and attended by high-level dignitaries from both countries, including the U.S. Ambassador to Benin, the Honorable Gayleatha B. Brown, and representatives of the diplomatic corps. The Minister of Health, Dr. Kessile Tchala, made opening remarks, and final remarks were made by the President of Benin, Thomas Yayi Boni. A ceremonial distribution of prenatal care kits was made to 15 expectant mothers.

The PMI relies on a multi-pronged approach to malaria control, including: 1) prevention through long-lasting insecticide-treated bed nets and intermittent preventive treatment (IPT) for prenatal women, 2) treatment with artemisinin-based combination therapy (ACT, the new frontline drug introduced in Benin in 2006), and 3) indoor residual spraying to control the mosquito population in high-burden regions. The Initiative also will contribute much needed resources to expand the country’s malaria research and surveillance capabilities, as well as to build capacity within the National Malaria Control Program and throughout the health system.

URC’s PISAF team will help to build capacity of National Malaria Control Program staff to conduct effective indoor residual spraying and ensure that procedures to avert insecticide resistance are followed. The project will also work to improve prevention of malaria in expectant mothers by conducting a baseline assessment of services and providing training for national and departmental trainers to train health care workers to apply monitoring and evaluation activities. Further, PISAF will work to improve malaria prevention and treatment services by training national, departmental, and health zone supervisors to strengthen their communication and decision-making skills. The project team will work with local malaria experts to develop clinical protocols for treating severe malaria consistent with international standards and will design job aids to reinforce training and supervision of hospital level staff.

In Tanzania, the President and First Lady visited Amana Hospital, one of the sites where URC has been working to improve the quality of pediatric care and infant feeding counseling. URC materials and job aids were showcased during the visit.

The Pediatric Hospital Improvement Collaborative, started under the Quality Assurance Project in 2004 in partnership with the Tanzania Ministry of Health, has yielded updated triage and case management guidelines for pediatric referral care for HIV/AIDS and other leading causes of child morbidity in Tanzania. The Government of Tanzania has now expanded the collaborative to additional regions of the country. In late 2007, the Government of Tanzania officially endorsed the training strategy and counseling materials developed with URC support for the Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission of HIV/AIDS (PMTCT) throughout the country, meeting a previously unmet need for PMTCT counseling tools and training.

For more information on URC’s work in Benin, contact Suzanne Gold at sgold@urc-chs.com. For information on URC’s work in Tanzania, contact Dr. Stephen Kinoti at skinoti@urc-chs.com.

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