Malaria, one of the world’s deadliest diseases, is transmitted by one of the world’s smallest insects—the mosquito. Bites from malaria-carrying mosquitoes resulted in about 249 million cases of malaria in 2022, with an estimated 608,000 people dying from the disease, according to the World Health Organization. Young children and pregnant women are among the most vulnerable to the disease, especially in Africa, which accounts for 96% of malaria deaths and 95% of illnesses. To reduce malaria transmission and ensure that fewer people become sick or die from this illness, vector control—activities that limit or prevent mosquitoes from spreading the disease—is essential.
Since 2006, the U.S. President’s Malaria Initiative (PMI) has protected millions of people from malaria, working with partner countries to scale up proven, life-saving interventions. Abt Global has contributed to this impact since 2011, beginning by leading the Africa Indoor Residual Spraying (AIRS) and PMI AIRS projects. In September 2017, the U.S. continued its commitment to tackling this deadly disease, awarding Abt the five-year PMI VectorLink Project. Working in 25 countries in Africa as well as Cambodia and Colombia, the PMI VectorLink Project conducted robust entomological monitoring and equipped countries to plan and implement IRS programs and other proven, life-saving malaria vector control interventions, including insecticide-treated nets (ITNs) and larval source management (LSM).
PMI VectorLink implemented safe, cost-effective, and sustainable vector control interventions while promoting gender equity in all facets of planning and implementation. The project strengthened the capacity of country governments to use epidemiological, entomological, and coverage data to support the optimal deployment of vector control tools based on each country’s context and needs. We developed a global database management system, VectorLink Collect, using the open source DHIS2 platform to improve the way data was captured, managed, and used across the project countries. Our work has informed global malaria best practices, guidelines, and policies.
Abt concluded its work on the PMI VectorLink Project in September 2023, with stunning results over the six-year period of implementation. Distribution of mosquito nets helped to protect nearly 24 million people against malaria. Year after year, indoor residual spray (IRS) campaigns protected millions more, reaching a high of more than 21 million people each year.
We have powerful stories of local capacity strengthening, reaching the unreached with malaria prevention, local health system resilience, and innovation from our years of work.
In 2023, Abt launched the PMI Evolving Vector Control to Fight Malaria Project, known as PMI Evolve, to continue to support PMI achieve its goal of ending malaria faster with renewed emphasis on strengthening local institutions to expand sustainability of this life-saving work. In its first year, PMI Evolve conducted IRS campaigns in four countries—Madagascar, Malawi, Rwanda, and Zambia—protecting 4.8 million people from malaria; and distributed 2.7 million ITNs in Zambia, protecting 5.4 million people, while supporting the country’s nationwide ITN campaign that distributed more than 11.5 million ITNs.