UMSP has recently received funding from the CDC US President's Malaria Initiative to improve malaria surveillance and control in Uganda. The objectives of this project include:

Objective 1: to strengthen and maintain a sentinel site surveillance system for monitoring indicators of malaria morbidity

Objective 2: to strengthen data management to ensure timely data analysis and the provision of reports on key malaria indicators

Objective 3: collaborate with the National Drug Authority in establishing a viable pharmacovigilance system by training health care workers in local languages, sensitizing communities, and providing support for supervision and data analysis.

Objective 4: prepare for enhanced passive surveillance of antimalarial treatment at sentinel sites by training health care workers and key community members.

Objective 5: collect adverse event report forms from health care facilities/community groups in Jinja and Tororo

Objective 6: to improve diagnostic capacity for malaria and management of febrile illness in Uganda by training laboratory health care workers in malaria microscopy

Objective 7: to improve diagnostic capacity for malaria and management of febrile illness in Uganda by training health workers in fever case management using rapid diagnostic testing.

UMSP has recently been invited to join a consortium of researchers (ACT Consortium) tes Foundation funding to evaluate the impact of widespread artemisinin-based combination therapy (ACT) use on malaria morbidity and mortality in Africa.  We propose:

• To characterize a rural population living in a highly endemic area of Uganda for the purpose of supporting longitudinal studies of combination antimalarial therapy and other malaria control interventions.

 

   Activities will include the census and mapping of West Budama North Subdistrict, a survey of existing health services focusing on the public health facilities and HBMF program, and qualitative study involving focus group discussions with community members and health workers.  This will allow us to define the clusters for the randomized trial, establish the sampling frame for the cross sectional surveys and the longitudinal cohort study, and inform the design of the interventions (particularly the enhanced health facility based care) of the main trial

 

• To compare the impact of ACT vs non-ACT regimens, and to compare clinic-based vs community-based administration of antimalarial treatments, in terms of health outcomes, markers of antimalarial resistance, and cost-effectiveness.

 

• To expand our research capacity to new areas (including vector biology and transmission prevention methods) to better meet the needs of Ugandans and of the Ministry of Health.