DAPP Malawi is in 2021 celebrating 26 years of active involvement in development work with communities through out the country
DAPP is implementing 17 projects within education, health, agriculture and community development in 25 district that span across the country's three regions
The DAPP Nutrition Screening project in Machinga district is in its second year of implementation. The project continues to implement the activities but with limitations due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Active case finding through screening of under 5 children is currently not taking place to avoid physical contact and the risk of contracting and spreading the coronavirus which was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organisation in March 2020. However, field officers are still working with health facilities to ensure that children who were identified as malnourished are receiving therapeutic and supplementary food supplies. Apart from patient follow-ups, the project is also civic-educating the community on hygiene practices for the prevention of COVID-19 infections and what to do if they suspect possible infections in their families.
Households are being encouraged to establish backyard gardens
Parents receive supplementary foods in one of the centres
“We have managed to visit some of the children who are receiving the supplementary food and they are showing signs of improvement, unfortunately we cannot asses their nutrition status because we are avoiding contact,” said Shyreen Malunga the Project Coordinator. The Ministry of Health through Nyambi and Mkwepere Health Centres provides therapeutic peanut butter to undernourished children while DAPP Malawi supplements the families with supplies like cooking oil and kidney beans. On 27 March and 27 April 2020, the project made a distribution of the food supplies to 100 families; 50 families at Mkwepere and 50 at Nyambi Health Centre respectively. The project is being implemented in Traditional Authority Nyambi and targets to directly reach 1,000 pregnant and lactating mothers and over 30,000 people indirectly. The Screening, Care and Nutrition for the Management of Severe and Moderate Malnutrition in Children Aged 0 to 2 Years project is financed by the Valdese Church through Humana People to People Italia.
World Malaria Day, which takes place on 25 April each year, is an internationally recognized day, highlighting the global efforts to control malaria and celebrating the gains that have been made. Since 2000, the world has made historic progress against malaria, saving millions of lives. However, half the world is still at risk of this preventable, treatable disease, which costs a child’s life every two minutes.
The global theme for World Malaria Day, ‘Zero Malaria Starts with Me’, emphasizes everyone’s power and responsibility – no matter where they live – to ensure no one dies from a mosquito bite. Malaria is increasingly becoming a disease of poverty and inequity, with the most vulnerable at greatest risk of dying from a mosquito bite, particularly pregnant women and children under five in sub-Saharan Africa.
ADPP Malaria prevention in Nacala
Demo on the correct use of mosquito net
According to the World Malaria Report 2019, nearly 900,000 children in 38 African countries were born with a low birth weight due to malaria in pregnancy in 2018, and children under five still accounted for two-thirds of all malaria deaths worldwide.
Humana People to People is committed to eliminate malaria in the high incidence countries. It implements malaria projects in cooperation with partners who are driven by the same ambition of eliminating the treatable disease. In fighting malaria we do community mobilization for prevention and treatment including distribution of mosquito-nets. Through a network of community-based health workers and community volunteers, members of Humana People to People organise malaria awareness campaigns, distribute mosquito-nets, carry-out malaria testing, treat and refer the sick for treatment at health centres. Tracking of malaria cases is done to support treatment. Targeting individuals, families and communities is part of reaching out activities; so gaining control and eliminating malaria becomes every-one’s responsibility. Simple actions people can take to prevent contracting malaria are shared through village meetings, school-based awareness raising and house-to-house visits.
During the year 2019, Humana People to People reached more than 2.3 million people with malaria awareness for prevention messages with more than 420 000 people getting tested. Those found infected received treatment at temporary clinic posts established whilst others were treated at health centers. Some of the Humana People to People mega malaria interventions currently reaching hundreds of thousands of people are being implemented in Mozambique and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. ADPP Mozambique currently is implementing a malaria project covering more than 1.3 million in hard hit communities of the provinces of Niassa and Nampula provinces of Mozambique. Humana People to People-Congo started a new malaria project in July 2019 reaching more than 313 000 people in Mai Ndombe province of Democratic Republic of Congo. Three Child Aid projects in South Africa are involving more than 200 000 people with malaria awareness, testing and treatment activities along the South African border with Mozambique and Swaziland. The goal of the projects is to reduce malaria cases to zero through eradicating the breeding sites for the female anopheles’ mosquito which transmits the malaria parasite.
Distribution of treated mosquito nets is being done, especially to pregnant women and children below five years of age in Zambia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Guinea Bissau, Malawi, Namibia, South Africa, Angola, Mozambique and the Democratic Republic of Congo. The teachers at the Humana People to People Teacher Training Colleges, Community Health Agents, Outreach Officers, Area Leaders and volunteers form part of mosquito-nets distribution network. Malaria prevention is a crucial part of the Humana People to People projects where each employee and the people involved in the projects are informed and equipped to prevent it.
Members of Humana People to People are participating in two multi-country malaria elimination programmes lead by ADPP Mozambique in one major block and another two country programme is lead by ADPP Angola. The Southern Africa Malaria Elimination Initiative 8 (E8) is a coalition of eight countries; Angola, Botswana, Eswatini, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe, who are working across national borders to eliminate malaria in the sub-region by 2030. As the malaria response arm of the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC), the E8 is pioneering an ambitious regional approach and driving collective action to end this deadly disease. The E8 initiative is funded by The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.
In Mozambique under the E8 programme, ADPP Mozambique conducted Rapid Diagnosis Tests (RDT) for malaria to 102 286 people at malaria plus posts and through Community Health Agents. Among those tested 8 118 received first line anti-malarial treatment. The project improved the access of migrant and mobile populations to malaria elimination services and created the demand for malaria testing and treatment with tracking and surveillance, ultimately reducing the cross-border malaria transmission.
Under the E8 initiative coordinated by SADC, ADPP Angola is leading a consortium of NGOs in Angola and Namibia, testing, tracking and treating cases of malaria. The project established seven fixed malaria testing and treatment posts in Angola and one in Namibia, together with mobile clinics and surveillance teams to reach more dispersed communities. 50 351 Rapid Diagnosis Tests for malaria were carried out in Angola and 1 396 positive malaria cases were diagnosed and treated in the year 2019.
Fighting malaria has been and remains a major component in the health programmes of Humana People to People. As a norm most of the community development projects, working with sustainable agriculture or rural development do integrate malaria prevention in their implementation process. Through fighting malaria, members of Humana People to People are contributing to control the spread of malaria in the most affected countries of sub-Saharan Africa – a key part of achieving Sustainable Development Goal 3 which is about savings lives.
DAPP Malawi is to implement a TB Prevention, Care and Support project in Traditional Authority Kapeni, Blantyre district, running from March to December 2020. Designed to improve prevention of the spread of TB and improve care and support for people infected with TB, project will focus on increasing knowledge of HIV/TB including symptoms, testing, treatment, side effects, prevention, transmission.
Interactions with a client
A health personnel conducting tests
The activities to be carried out by DAPP staff and volunteers will create awareness and mobilization of people to get tested for HIV and TB through door to door visits. It is expected that the project will build the capacity of patients, friends and family to provide counselling and treatment support. Sputum samples for TB testing will be collected in the household. 300 families with HIV/TB co-infected patients, especially Multi-Drug Resistant (MDR) TB patients and women/child/granny headed households will be supported to among others establish backyard gardens with the provision of tools, seeds and training on nutrition with the provision of tools, seeds and training on nutrition.
On 24 March, the world commemorates World TB Day, and this year’s theme is ‘It’s Time’. TB is the leading infectious killer of people with HIV and the second leading infectious cause of death for adults globally. Now, more than ever, it’s time to accelerate action and efforts to test, treat and terminate TB.
TB kills more than two million people a year, impacting the poorest of families, communities and countries. World TB Day was launched to raise public awareness on the causes, effect and impact of TB around the world.
A health expert prepares samples for testing
A volunteer interacts with a client
Fighting disease and health promotion is a central theme underscoring the efforts of the Federation Humana People to People and its members in the global south, so we join hands in celebrating this important commemoration. Our members have been actively involved in TB programming for more than 15 years now in high burden countries across Africa and Asia. Education has been a priority focus for the response to TB, but this must be coupled with accurate information and communication, as well as solutions to enhance the fight against TB, given that 98% of deaths occur in the developing world.
Humana People to People works in alignment with the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 3, which calls for an end to TB by 2030. In addition, the World Health Organisation (WHO) End TB program aims to achieve a 95% reduction in TB deaths, 90% reduction in TB incidence rates, and zero catastrophic costs. To this end, we adopt a community-centered approach to TB programming in behavior change, health systems strengthening and TB treatment. This is achieved by integrating innovation-driven approaches through family-based support engaging a TRIO system (infected and two family members); door-to-door screening; and health education with nutrition support.
More than 20 TB prevention and treatment projects were implemented across nine countries in the global south by our members in 2019; these are Angola, Congo, Botswana, Laos, India, Malawi, Mozambique, South Africa and Zimbabwe. Projects engaged a broad-based community approach, working with the poorest, vulnerable communities, as well as adolescent girls and young women in the remotest locations.
This year alone, TB efforts by our members resulted in the screening of 390 000 people, testing of 24 000 people and referral of 5 000 people for TB treatment. Key to all project efforts was enabling communities to ‘own’ HIV and TB, breaking down associated stigma, better understanding disease symptoms, and adopting measures to live positively with a support structure and continued awareness and behavior change.
Focusing on the strides that the country has so far made in the fight against HIV/AIDS, Government officials, civil society organizations, local and international partners joined the country in commemorating the 2019 World Aids day commemorations held on 1st December at Ngolowindo Primary School Grounds in Salima district.
Community members taking part in the march
Guest of honours and community members march
“Communities make a difference: End AIDS by 2030” was the theme for the commemorations which highlighted the progress that Malawi is making towards meeting the global 90-90-90 target set in 2014 by the United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) and other partners to end the AIDS epidemic. The idea behind the 90-90-90 target is to diagnose 90% of all HIV-positive persons, provide antiretroviral therapy (ART) for 90% of those diagnosed, and achieve viral suppression for 90% of those treated by 2020.
UNAIDS Country Director Mr. Nuha Ceesay said Malawi is making strides in the fight against the epidemic. “Research has shown that every year, Malawi has 38,000 new infections of which 50% of them are found in the youth. This is very worrisome” he said.
Music and dance were part of the day
World aids day banner
Dr Charles Mwansambo, Chief of Health services in the Ministry of Health and Population who was the guest of honour during the function, further explained that as of September 2019, Malawi was at 93-84-92 on the 90-90-90 target and that there is more to be done to reach the 90-90-90 goal by 2030 Designated on 1 December every year since 1988, World AIDS Day is an international day dedicated to raising awareness of the AIDS pandemic caused by the spread of HIV infection and mourning those who have died from the disease.
