Team reaches out through district malaria project

 RABAUL district covered 23,000 people in its home-based management of malaria programme in the past three months, district health coordinator Joshua Wowo says.

The programme is being piloted in East New Britain and East Sepik. Global Fund is providing funding through Population Services International.

He said in ENB, the Burnet Institute was coordinating the programme. 

About 100 people are trained as community-based distributors for the district.

“The distributors have been taught to use the rapid diagnostics tests and so far they have done well,” he said.

“From July to September, they have seen 1,154 cases.  481 were treated for malaria and 1,025 were referred to their nearest health facilities for further investigation and treatment.”

Wowo said people did not need to travel to the health facilities because they had the distributors in their communities.

“For the benefit of the population in the district, the Rabaul district administration must take a lead in the sustainability of the programme,” Wowo said.

He said the distributors were working on a voluntary basis and the district must do something to reward them.

The joint district planning and budget priorities committee promised to take ownership of the programme.