Rolling Back Malaria in Zambia

Malaria is endemic throughout Zambia, which has extremely high rates of malariarelated morbidity and mortality. More than 70,000 Zambian children under the age of five died in 2001, and malaria caused at least a quarter of these deaths. Yet the national response to malaria is hamstrung by funding shortfalls that limit the government’s ability to undertake appropriate treatment and prevention activities.

The Global Fund has approved two malaria grants to Zambia for nearly US$18 million to support its national response: one to the Central Board of Health’s Program to Combat Malaria and the other to Churches Health Association of Zambia. Financing from the Global Fund will assist the Central Board of Health’s efforts to reduce malaria-related morbidity and mortality by ensuring prompt, effective and safe treatment; effective vector control through indoor residual spraying; widespread, affordable access to insecticide-treated nets; and strengthened program management and partnerships.

As treatment failure rates with chloroquine have risen from zero in 1980 to close to 40 percent in 2000, the government of Zambia has become one of the first countries in Africa to adopt artemisinin-based combination therapy in its national treatment protocols. This treatment has been demonstrated as effective in situations of high resistance and has been shown to significantly reduce malaria-related mortality. Financing from the Global Fund will allow the government to offer artemisinin-based combination therapy nationwide.

The number of partners involved in the program highlights how Zambia has leveraged the opportunity presented by the Global Fund to enable a true multisector approach to the fight against malaria. Since the Churches Health Association of Zambia provides 30 to 40 percent of existing health-care services in the country, the malaria program is utilizing the skills and experience that a large network of faith-based organizations can offer.

The organization is taking a leading role in coordinating the distribution of insecticide-treated nets, using its national network of faith-based organizations to ensure widespread coverage.

In a further example of innovative partnerships fostered as a result of Global Fund financing, an approach to indoor residual spraying that was developed by a large mining company will be expanded to reach five additional high-risk urban areas.