Angola

Objectives Identified to Direct the Programmes

Public Sector

The MENTOR Initiative has been supporting the public health sector in Angola since June 2003. The programme began piloting the use of standardised malaria case management and prevention protocols in Zaire and Huambo provinces. Since 2006, the MENTOR Initiative programme, funded by the President's Malaria Initiative (PMI), has been focused on: - Supervising Health Facilities and Laboratories to guarantee quality of services delivered- Assuring prompt access to Artemisinin-based Combination Therapy (ACT) - Capacity building of health workers to correctly use rapid diagnostic malaria kits and ACT- IEC activities - Pharmaceutical management of malaria drugsThe organisation, in partnership with the Provincial Public Health Department, the National Malaria Control Program (NMCP) and the National Essential Drugs Program, supports the Malaria activities in all functioning health facilities in the two provinces. The MENTOR Initiative public sector programmes in both provinces aim to ensure correct implementation and adherence to national malaria strategies and protocols. Prevention strategies are based on community participation in promoting the use of long lasting insecticidal nets (LLIN) and encourage early diagnostic and treatment seeking.

Private Sector

For the first time in the history of malaria control in Angola, in 2008, The MENTOR Initiative initiated a three year pilot project in Huambo province that introduces the artimisinin based malaria treatment Coartem (Artemether + Lumefantrine) to the private sector - targeting children less than 5 years of age. While Coartem was procured on a large scale by donors for distribution in the public sector, research showed that many Angolans would rather seek anti-malarial drugs in private sector pharmacies so much of the public sector ACT found its way into private pharmacies and clinics. Funded by PMI/USAID and in collaboration with the NMCP, this pilot project established an overbranded private sector ACT supply chain aimed to increase the availability of life saving anti-malaria medication in the private sector while training private sector healthcare providers on its rational use.Advertising and IEC campaigns to inform the public of the availability of Coartem, including sensitization concerning the importance of purchasing combined therapies rather than mono-therapies like chloroquine to treat uncomplicated malaria, continue to be vital for the success of this pilot project. Prompt access to affordable efficient therapies like Coartem in the private sector is expected to reduce the case fatality load and greatly alleviate the burden placed on a stretched public healthcare system.

To date, 95 private health facilities in Huambo are trained and are providing good quality "overbranded" ACT.