The National Malaria Control Program (NMCP) in Sierra Leone has made it a
priority to review the Malaria Treatment Guidelines in line with the country’s
2016-2020 National Strategic Plan (NSP), which aims to strengthen the
capacity of health workers in the public and private health sectors to
implement the new WHO Test. Treat. Track (T3) initiative in malaria case
management. In order to achieve this objective, the NMCP must focus on
ensuring delivery of targeted and cost effective malaria diagnostic and
treatment interventions across the country, using microscopy or Rapid
Diagnostic Tests (RDTs) for diagnosis, and treating confirmed cases with
effective Artemisinin-based Combination Therapy (ACT).
While at the national level there is a clear understanding of the malaria
interventions needed throughout the country, the challenge lies at the
training institution and health facility level, where a gap in the skillset and
knowledge on these topics persists. One such area is within nurse training
institutions, where tutors themselves lack the necessary training on up-todate
malaria case management. In response, the USAID-funded Leadership,
Management and Governance (LMG)/NMCP project organized a two-day
training for 29 tutors from public and private nurse training institutions on
malaria case management and appropriate use of RDTs and intermittent
preventive treatment (SP-IPT) of malaria for pregnant women.
The aim of the workshop was to strengthen participants’ understanding of
effective malaria diagnostic and treatment procedures and to encourage them
to introduce and integrate these updated procedures and trainings into the
curriculum for final year students. This form of trickle down training will
ensure that, once students have completed the course and are posted to
peripheral health units (PHUs) across the country, they will be able to carry
out the proper malaria diagnosis and treatment procedures and ultimately
contribute to malaria control, in line with the WHO recommendation and the
2016-2020 NSP.
During his opening statement, the NMCP Program Manager acknowledged
LMG/NMCP for its ongoing technical and financial support to the NMCP
efforts in malaria control. He went on to say that this kind of training is critical
to building the skills and capacity of nursing students who will soon be going
out to the field as key players in the fight against malaria. “This kind of
training is critical to building the skills and capacity of nursing students who
will soon be going out to the field as key players in the fight against malaria,”
said Sister Anitta Kamara, NMCP case management focal person. “It will
certainly have a positive impact on the diagnostic and effective treatment of
malaria cases with the graduates’ contribution.”