BI man part of $6 million effort against malaria

March 14, 2021 1:30 am

Jeff Pritchard, longtime Bainbridge Island resident and board chairman of Malaria Partners International, is part of a partnership that has announced a $6 million investment to train, equip and deploy 2,500 Community Health Workers in Zambia, thereby freeing 1.3 million residents of malaria.

Others involved in the inaugural Programs of Scale, Partners for a Malaria-Free Zambia are Rotary International, World Vision and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

“This is a landmark initiative … in what all three groups, and the government of Zambia, hope will be a blueprint for malaria elimination throughout Zambia and all of Sub-Sahara Africa,” Pritchard said in a news release.

The program will bring together Rotary clubs across the U.S. and Zambia to provide community-based education, testing and treatment for malaria.

“By empowering CHW volunteers, the project connects people in areas with little to no access to health care with trusted members of their community who can test for and treat malaria,” said Bill Feldt, project leader and Malaria Partners International board member.

Malaria is responsible for 50 percent of infant deaths and 20 percent of maternal deaths in Zambia.

CHW candidates will receive six days of intensive classroom training followed by an additional day in the field. The CHWs will then be assigned to the health clinic closest to their homes for six weeks of mentorship. CHWs will be equipped with rapid diagnostic tests, anti-malaria medicine, and lancets for finger pricks. They will also receive bicycles and mobile phones, allowing them to reach remote communities, quickly report cases, and share case management data.

Malaria Partners International is a 501(c)3 organization whose vision is that malaria is eliminated worldwide. Its mission is to ignite an international Rotarian movement for the global eradication of malaria. Inspired by Rotary’s monumental work in eradicating polio, Seattle Rotarians founded Malaria Partners International with the aim of using strategies developed in the polio effort to wipe out malaria worldwide.