PMI VectorLink Sierra Leone

Objectives

IRS

PMI VectorLink Sierra Leone project will work with stakeholders including NMCP, regions and districts, to spray 160,919 targeted structures in two districts using Sumishield ^TM 50WG. The project’s primary objective is to reach a minimum coverage of 85 percent of the structures found in each district by implementing high-quality IRS operations.

• Support the NMCP in spraying an estimated 160,919 eligible structures in 12 chiefdoms in Bombali District and 16 chiefdoms in Bo District, using SumiShield ^TM;
• Ensure that the spraying is of high quality, achieves at least 85% spray coverage, and protects an estimated population of 698,552;
• Devise and implement a deliberate plan to begin building capacity at the national, district, and chiefdom levels to manage IRS operations, including planning, spraying, and monitoring and evaluation (M&E);
• Continue to engage District Health Management Teams (DHMT) and Peripheral Health Unit (PHU) staff in the planning, implementation, and supervision of IRS in the two districts;
• Promote gender equality and female empowerment by recruiting women to fill at least 30% of the IRS seasonal worker positions. VectorLink will encourage the DHMT selection committees to achieve the mandatory quota;
• Coordinate community mobilization activities in collaboration with PHU and local authorities to raise awareness and achieve high community acceptance of IRS;
• Conduct high-quality M&E of IRS, including daily performance monitoring during the IRS campaign, to ensure the achievement of the objectives and targets assigned; and
• Under the leadership of the project Environmental Compliance Officer (ECO), provide capacity building and work in collaboration with the NMCP Directorate of Environmental Health in the Ministry of Environment to conduct environmental inspections.

Entomological Monitoring Activities

• Monitor the density, biting rate, behavior, infectivity and parity of malaria vectors in 10 sentinel sites;
• Continue to maintain functional insectaries in Makeni and Freetown with the gambiae Kisumu strain available at all times and annual colony verification;
• Continue measuring the susceptibility of the main malaria vector, gambiae s.l. (in order of priority) to deltamethrin, permethrin, clothianidin, chlorfenapyr, alpha-cypermethrin, and pirimiphos-methyl. Susceptibility of An. gambiae s.l. from Bo, Bombali, Kono, Port Loko, and Karene districts will be tested;
• Measure the intensity of resistance to pyrethroids, and perform synergist assays, where appropriate;
• Subcontract with the Sierra Leone locally-based Njala University Laboratory, as well as the Centre for Research in Infectious Diseases (CRID), a regional laboratory in Cameroon or other suitable laboratories to use polymerase chain reaction (PCR) to process mosquitoes to identify samples to the species level, and use enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) to test sample mosquitoes for infectivity and PCR for determination of blood meal origin;
• Build the capacity of Njala university laboratory in Sierra Leone in order to conduct in-country laboratory analysis of samples collected; and
• Subcontract with CRID and Njala University to conduct PCR to identify the mechanism associated with the resistance observed (knockdown resistance (kdr) and acetylcholinesterase 1 (Ace-1) mutations).

ITN Activities

• Continue to support the NMCP in conducting the third round (24 months) of ITN durability monitoring covering the two types of ITNs distributed in 2020;
• Support NMCP in the monitoring and evaluation of the school-based ITN distribution program; and
• Support NMCP to develop an operations research concept in collaboration with Breakthrough Action to understand reasons for low net use and provide recommendations to NMCP for behavior change communications.

Assessment of the Co-deployment of piperonyl butoxide (PBO) Nets and IRS

• Monitor the co-deployment of IRS and PBO ITNs;
• Monitor the density, biting rate, behavior, infectivity and parity of malaria vectors in the 12 co-deployment sites;
• Conduct an analysis of the entomological data for the co-deployment study; and
• Conduct an analysis of the HMIS data.

National-level Support

• Continue to strengthen the capacity of the NMCP and district health staff in entomology and vector control, use of entomological data for decision making and identification of priority operational research questions once there is an established leadership within NMCP;
• Continue to support the NMCP in holding quarterly meetings of the Vector Control Technical Working Group (VCTWG) and semi-annual meetings of the Integrated Vector Management (IVM) National Steering Committee;
• Continue to provide technical support to the NMCP and other stakeholders for data review for IRS insecticide selection in 2022 (for the spray campaign beyond 2022); 
• Support the NMCP in reviewing the Insecticide Resistance Monitoring and Management Plan (IRMMP); and
• Strengthen the capacity of NMCP and national stakeholders for high quality leadership from NMCP during IRS implementation.