Dr. Jorge Polanco Kim Bautista Orlando Chan

Program assessment conducted following PAHO - GUIDE FOR THE REORIENTATION OF MALARIA CONTROL PROGRAMS WITH A VIEW TOWARD ELIMINATION OF THE DISEASE

1.Re-orientation of staff and relevant stakeholders towards elimination 2.Update/develop operational guidelines/S.O.P’s – surveillance, diagnosis and vector control 3.Strengthen the coordination between the Ministry of Health and local government (municipalities) – inter-sectorial collaboration

1.Improve epidemiological surveillance - Increase Active Case Detection in communities that have produced malaria in the past 3 years.  Over 90% of cases detected through passive case detection (mostly community health workers and volunteers) 2.Improved vector surveillance and integrated vector management 3.Improved networking with neighbouring countries

1.Improved supervision of treatment (treatment compliance) 2. Improve access to the network for malaria diagnosis, particularly in areas with high API and border areas (quality diagnosis) 3.Strengthen microscopic diagnosis and maintain high standards in districts with no current transmission 4.Reduce turn around time from taking of blood smear to diagnosis and treatment (need for improved staffing)

1.Strengthen human resources in all aspects of vector control - succession planning 2.Increase staffing situation – currently 52 full time employees for Malaria, Dengue and Chagas diseases  chikungunya?  How do we divide the work??? 3.Build capacity for the network of community health workers and voluntary collaborators (378 persons countrywide) in the core competencies of vector control and their role in malaria elimination. For Dengue we are looking at implementing a COMBI program.

1.Improve Reporting - Provide feedback to supervisory and operational level with regards to the impact of interventions  Evaluating interventions 2.Development of a malaria information system for management and analysis  Module to be integrated into existing national health information system (BHIS)