A team from the U.S. President’s Malaria Initiative recently penned a commentary to the global malaria community noting that to address the plateau in progress to end malaria, we must ensure that quality interventions reach the unreached. To effectively address malaria control and elimination worldwide, we should:
- Endeavor to “reach the unreached,” to deliver malaria services from the clinic to the community and home.
- Shift our language from “access” to “reach” because the latter incorporates equity and responsibility for service delivery more expansively.
- Use data to know who are unreached, where they are located, and how to ensure they receive malaria services.
- Engage with community health workers that are adequately supported and equipped to diagnose and treat malaria in every person in their communities regardless of age.
These concepts connect to PMI’s 2021-2025 strategy, “End Malaria Faster,” which aims to end malaria within a generation, contribute to the global goals of saving more than 4 million lives, and avert 1 billion malaria cases by 2025.
The full commentary ‘End Malaria Faster: Taking Lifesaving Tools Beyond “Access” to “Reach” All People in Need’ is available on GHSPjournal.org.