1. Faith Leaders in Public health messaging on malaria Faiths Act project- TBFF HDP meeting 28 th June 2012

2. Introduction/ Background Overall aim Objectives 1.Reach 100,000 households with messages of malaria prevention by June 2012. 2.Demonstrate the practical impact of interfaith public health messaging. Why Malaria? Why Faith leaders?

3. Preparation Launch Workshop Development of materials and tools Involvement of partners Support of Key Stakeholders (First Lady of Sierra Leone) Background literature on recent and current projects

4. Model A Malaria Faith Ambassador (MFA) is recruited and Trained MFA trains up to 30 community volunteers Malaria Faith Champions (MFC) MFC 1 st visits 20 households to educate families MFC 2nd visits 20 households 1 month later to certify compliant households Messaging at community events, including during sermons & khutbahs

5. 5 key messages of Malaria prevention 1.Sleep under insecticide treated bed net every night, giving priority to pregnant women and children under five. 2.Clean compound, clearing all rubbish mosquito breeding sites(stagnant water, tins, cans, bottles, plastic bags, old tyres, etc) 3.Encourage all pregnant women to attend antenatal care at qualified health worker and get treatment to prevent malaria. 4.Recognise signs and symptoms of malaria and seek medical attention immediately 5.Take complete dose of treatment prescribed, even if you feel better; Do not share it

6. Tools MFA tool kit Picture book Certificate/ score card Household stickers (recently used for coverage) Simple, practical but effective

7. Progress/ updates 240 Faith leaders trained as Malaria Faith Ambassadors 6, 328 community volunteers trained as Malaria Faith Champions 127,819 first household visits Over 210,000 people in wider community

8. Challenges/ lessons learnt Expectations of volunteers Upcoming Distractions Initial recruitment had no set criteria Maintaining the enthusiasm after MFA active role Area to cover is large Rural vs Urban Demonstrating impact needs planning, strategy and collaboration

9. Way Forward Independent evaluation by IPSOS/MORI and local partner. Long term Sustainability Replicating the model Adapting the model

10. Conclusion Project has successfully harnessed messaging power of faith leaders to educate communities on malaria prevention Project has potential to tackle other relevant health aspects like MCH and diseases related to sanitation.

11. Thank you for listening Questions?