Communities enlisted to craft malaria solutions

Acting together with communities to fight HIV/AIDS epidemic has led government to positive interventions that have earned the country accolades and saved human lives. Using the same engagement concept, government is now interrogating new ways to fight malaria, allowing society to take the lead, under a programme dubbed Communities Acting Together to Eliminate Malaria (CATTEM). Humana People to People Botswana, a non-governmental organisation spearheading the project to drive community competence in assessing their own situation and drive locally owned solutions in fighting malaria, is confident CATTEM will give birth to new solutions to fight the epidemic. Segametsi Mashumba, Senior Programmes Manager at Humana said CATTEM, the bottom-up response to malaria, is being piloted in the country’s malaria hotspots in six districts - Chobe, Okavango, Ngamiland, Bobirwa , Tutume and Boteti before sustainable solutions are rolled countrywide. “So far we happy with progress and seeing people being eager to address problems they face. A lot of people are coming to discuss the issue,” said Mashumba adding that some of the villages are experiencing high malaria cases as after effects of Cyclone Dineo. Under the six districts, CATTEM is being piloted in 12 villages - Mabele, Pandamatenga, Seronga, Sekondomboro, Sehithwa , Khwai, Motlhabaneng, Molalatau, Nata, Gweta, Mopipi and Mosu. Though Humana acknowledges that remoteness of some of the villages picked for the project pose a challenge, Mashumba remains optimistic the concerted efforts of communities will produce results in the fight against malaria. CATTEM is being piloted under the National Malaria Programme (NMP) financed by Global Fund Project and the Ministry of Health, whose goal is to achieve zero local malaria transmission. The project feeds into the SADC malaria elimination programme where eight countries - Botswana, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Angola, Namibia, Zambia, Swaziland and South Africa - are participating to eliminate malaria.