PMI VectorLink Malawi

Objectives

The project’s primary objective is to reach a minimum coverage of 85% of the eligible structures found in Nkhotakota District by implementing high-quality IRS operations. The project will also provide technical assistance, training support, and supervision to the Global Fund-supported IRS campaign in Mangochi, Balaka, and Nkhata Bay districts, which will be sprayed mainly with Actellic 300CS and the few sachets of SumiShield and Fludora Fusion that remain from the 2021 spray campaign.

Additionally, the project will carry out the following activities:

• Continue strengthening the capacity of the NMCP and district health teams in planning, implementation, and supervision of IRS activities.
• Provide technical assistance during the planning and implementation of spray operations implemented by the NMCP and WVI with Global Fund support.
• Work with the NMCP, Environmental Affairs Department (EAD), and District Environmental Sub-Committee (DESC) to ensure environmental compliance through inspections before, during, and after spraying.
• Carry out logistics assessments and arrange all procurement, shipping, delivery, and storage of all IRS equipment.
• Work with the NMCP and other local partners to coordinate information, education and communication (IEC), sensitization, and mobilization activities to raise awareness, encourage acceptance of IRS, and mitigate risk of refusals due to fear/misconceptions of insecticide use and expressed preference for ITNs.
• Provide regular monitoring and evaluation (M&E) for the IRS program.
• Integrate gender equality and women’s empowerment into IRS planning and implementation aligned with USAID’s Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment Policy and VectorLink’s Gender Strategy
• Prepare a landscape analysis of population groups that are unreached by vector control activities and why they are not reached.
• Provide financial and technical support to the Malaria Alert Centre (MAC) of the Kamuzu University of Health Sciences for entomological monitoring.
• Strengthen the national Vector Control Technical Working Group (VCTWG) to ensure it meets quarterly and adequately advises the NMCP on issues related to malaria vector control.
• Assist the NMCP in conducting a NetCALC exercise to identify the most effective and efficient options for continuous distribution to achieve and maintain universal ITN coverage. The exercise will conclude with dissemination of results to key stakeholders.
• Continue working with NMCP to conduct and complete the ITNs and IRS impact evaluations.