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A project run by the WHO Malaria Programme with a grant from the Government of Canada seeks to reduce deaths in children under 5 years of age living in remote rural areas.
The idea is to build capacity and equip community volunteers to recognize, diagnose and treat malaria, diarrhea and pneumonia - the 3 top childhood killers. Between 2013 and 2015, more than 7,500 community health workers living in a thousand villages across 5 countries in sub-Saharan Africa will be trained to care for 1.2 million children.
“Too many young children are dying in rural, remote parts of this country, and 80% of those deaths are precipitated by 3 diseases - malaria, pneumonia and diarrhea. This is senseless, because we have excellent tools to diagnose and treat all of them,” says Dr Bacary Sambou, a technical officer in the WHO Country Office of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) office. “It makes me angry and sad. But we are about to make a big change, by reaching more children with diagnosis and treatment, right where they live.”
The Rapid Access Expansion Programme
Dr Sambou directs a programme called the Rapid Access Expansion Programme – RAcE 2015 for short – in the DRC. The programme, run by WHO with a grant from the Government of Canada, covers 4 African countries in addition to DRC: Malawi, Mozambique, Niger and Nigeria. The programme’s objective is to select community volunteers living in remote villages and train them to identify and treat 3 diseases. They are being trained to recognize the symptoms of malaria in children under the age of 5 years, diagnose with a rapid test, and treat affected children with an artemisinin-based combination therapy, a highly effective and safe anti-malarial treatment. The community volunteers are also being trained to treat diarrhea with oral rehydration salts plus zinc; and how to recognize pneumonia and treat it with the antibiotic amoxicillin. The programme provides all the tests, medication and storage equipment they need.
The idea is to build capacity and equip community volunteers to recognize, diagnose and treat malaria, diarrhea and pneumonia - the 3 top childhood killers. Between 2013 and 2015, more than 7,500 community health workers living in a thousand villages across 5 countries in sub-Saharan Africa will be trained to care for 1.2 million children.
“Too many young children are dying in rural, remote parts of this country, and 80% of those deaths are precipitated by 3 diseases - malaria, pneumonia and diarrhea. This is senseless, because we have excellent tools to diagnose and treat all of them,” says Dr Bacary Sambou, a technical officer in the WHO Country Office of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) office. “It makes me angry and sad. But we are about to make a big change, by reaching more children with diagnosis and treatment, right where they live.”
The Rapid Access Expansion Programme
Dr Sambou directs a programme called the Rapid Access Expansion Programme – RAcE 2015 for short – in the DRC. The programme, run by WHO with a grant from the Government of Canada, covers 4 African countries in addition to DRC: Malawi, Mozambique, Niger and Nigeria. The programme’s objective is to select community volunteers living in remote villages and train them to identify and treat 3 diseases. They are being trained to recognize the symptoms of malaria in children under the age of 5 years, diagnose with a rapid test, and treat affected children with an artemisinin-based combination therapy, a highly effective and safe anti-malarial treatment. The community volunteers are also being trained to treat diarrhea with oral rehydration salts plus zinc; and how to recognize pneumonia and treat it with the antibiotic amoxicillin. The programme provides all the tests, medication and storage equipment they need.