ANTANANARIVO – The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) on behalf of the American people has provided an additional $5.1 million in assistance for Madagascar’s COVID-19 response. This funding, which supports national and community level primary health care facilities, will accelerate widespread and equitable access to COVID-19 vaccination and reduce morbidity and mortality from COVID-19.

Through this assistance, Madagascar can enhance its planning, preparedness, and response to the pandemic, particularly ensuring the necessary infrastructure is in place to make vaccines available to the people of Madagascar. For example, these funds will help support disease monitoring and surveillance to detect outbreaks of the virus; vaccine and medical supply delivery; protective equipment and training for Madagascar’s health workers; laboratory testing upgrades and expansion, and public information on COVID-19 protection.

Four USAID projects, working in collaboration with other key actors, are undertaking these activities in support of the Government of Madagascar’s COVID-19 response: RISE, implemented by the Institut Pasteur de Madagascar; USAID IMPACT, implemented by Population Services International; USAID ACCESS, implemented by Management Sciences for Health; and Infection Disease Detection and Surveillance, implemented by ICF International.

This assistance is part of the U.S. government’s $720 million global effort to expand and intensify the fight against COVID-19 abroad, respond to humanitarian crises exacerbated by COVID-19, and support a global recovery while preparing for future pandemic threats.

The U.S. Government has been a leading partner to Madagascar, standing side-by-side like “mpirahalahy mianala” in responding to outbreaks of plague, measles, malaria, and COVID-19, and remains the largest single-country donor to Madagascar's health sector, providing $74.5 million in 2020 alone to strengthen the country’s health system.

Source: Press Release by USAID Madagascar / U.S. Embassy Madagascar

A new project on infectious diseases strengthens public health diagnosis and surveillance and builds the capacity of local laboratories.

ANTANANARIVO – The U.S. Government, through the United States Agency for International Development’s (USAID) Infectious Disease Detection and Surveillance (IDDS) project, is helping Madagascar fight COVID-19 and other infectious diseases through the donation of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing equipment to the PZaGa public laboratory at Mahajanga Hospital in northwestern Madagascar.

“PCR testing is a fast and inexpensive method to test for infectious diseases and an important way to identify diseases that threaten public health. Clearly, this is much needed as we seek to control the COVID-19 pandemic,” said USAID Health Office Director Sophia Brewer.

In collaboration with the Ministry of Public Health, the IDDS project has trained local laboratory staff on the proper use of PCR equipment and other tests for infectious diseases, including correct sampling methods and safe handling, storage, and transportation of specimens.

In June, USAID’s IDDS project donated two new sterilization machines (or autoclaves), worth a total of more than $4,000, to two hospitals in Antananarivo. Autoclaves kill pathogens, decontaminate materials, and ensure the safety of laboratory technicians at these facilities. These donations support the IDDS project’s objective to improve Madagascar’s ability to identify and track disease outbreaks. “Our goal is to help the Ministry of Public Health improve their monitoring and diagnostic system so that they have reliable data to inform decisions,” stated IDDS Country Director Dr. Herindrainy Perlinot.

IDDS is a five-year USAID-funded project that is strengthening public health diagnostic networks and surveillance systems to effectively detect and monitor outbreaks of infectious diseases in more than 20 countries in Africa and Asia, including Madagascar.

This is the latest example of how the U.S. and Madagascar governments are like “mpirahalahy mianala” in preventing, identifying, and containing infectious disease outbreaks in Madagascar. Through USAID, the U.S. Government has been a leading partner to Madagascar, standing side-by- side in responding to outbreaks of plague, measles, malaria, and COVID-19. USAID also lent extensive support to the Ministry of Public Health’s recent national polio vaccination campaign. In February 2021, USAID also donated a GeneXpert machine to the Ministry of Public Health, which provides COVID-19 diagnostic test results within 45 minutes.

Last year, USAID assistance to Madagascar totaled $133.5 million. The U.S. Government is the largest single-country donor to Madagascar's health sector, providing $74.5 million in 2020 alone to fund USAID’s health projects. These projects reduce Madagascar's maternal and child mortality, provide access to potable water and sanitation, protect communities from malaria, improve access to family planning, ensure a reliable supply chain of vital health care provisions and medications, and reinforce the national community health policy.

Source: USAID Madagascar - U.S. Embassy Madagascar

This donation will improve services in 190 basic health centers and district hospitals in the Atsimo Andrefana region.

ANTANANARIVO — The U.S. Government, through the United States Agency for International Development’s (USAID) ACCESS health program, and in partnership with Project C.U.R.E., an American non-governmental organization that supplies medical equipment to developing countries, has donated 336 hospital beds and modern medical equipment for childbirth and surgery to 190 basic health centers and district hospitals in the Atsimo Andrefana region. The value of the donation is $825,000, more than 3.1 billion Ariary.

“Health workers need modern, reliable equipment in order to provide quality health services to patients,” said USAID Mission Director John Dunlop. “This equipment will help Madagascar strengthen its health system and be able to better respond to the COVID-19 pandemic.”

This delivery of three shipping containers full of hospital beds, mattresses, and medical equipment to the Atsimo Andrefana region is the latest in a series of shipments that began arriving in early 2020. Already four containers of medical materials have been handed over to the Ministry of Public Health to equip health centers in the Atsinanana, Analanjirofo, Vatovavy, and Fitovinany regions. Twenty-one other containers are expected to arrive in Madagascar in the coming months for the Menabe, Boeny, Sofia, Melaky, DIANA, and SAVA regions.

Through the USAID ACCESS program, the U.S. Government is working with the Government of Madagascar to rehabilitate and reequip regional health facilities so that patients feel confident going to their local medical center. “Donations like these support ongoing efforts by the Ministry of Public Health to encourage citizens to seek out health care,” said Dr. Serge Raharison, USAID ACCESS Program Director.

At the official handover ceremony in Tulear, Dr. Louisette Rasoanandrasana, the Regional Director of Public Health for Atsimo Andrefana, declared, “These items come at the right time to support our efforts to combat the COVID-19 pandemic, strengthen our health system, and ensure our care centers are ready to receive all patients. We are proud to ally with the USAID ACCESS program and to be able to count on them as our strategic partner working towards a common goal: saving lives.”

The U.S. Government and the Government of Madagascar are working together like “mpirahalahy mianala” to improve the capacity and quality of health care in Madagascar. Last year, USAID assistance to Madagascar totaled $133.5 million. The U.S. Government is the largest single-country donor to Madagascar's health sector, providing $72 million in 2020 alone to fund USAID’s health projects. These projects reduce Madagascar's maternal and child mortality, provide access to potable water and sanitation, protect communities from malaria, improve access to family planning, ensure a reliable supply chain of vital health care supplies and medication, and reinforce the national community health policy.

Press Release by USAID Madagascar / U.S. Embassy Madagascar

After five years of operation, the Mahefa Miaraka program has built a stronger community health system in rural regions

ANTANANARIVO – Today, USAID Mission Director John Dunlop and the Minister of Public Health Professeur Rakotovao Hanitrala Jean Louis marked the close of USAID’s five-year Community Capacity for Health Program during an online ceremony. Since 2016, the program, locally known as Mahefa Miaraka or 'Together we are capable' in the Malagasy language, has provided technical support to the Ministry of Public Health to implement the National Community Health Policy (PNSC) in seven regions – Analanjirofo, Boeny, DIANA, Melaky, Menabe, SAVA, and Sofia. While Mahefa Miaraka is closing, the legacy of its work and many of its initiatives will continue.

The U.S. Government, through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), funded Mahefa Miaraka with $31 million over five years to strengthen the planning, delivery, and management of community health services for the Malagasy people. The program put special emphasis on improving family planning, reducing the practice of open defecation, preventing child marriage, and delivering health and nutrition services for pregnant women, new mothers, and young children.

Major Achievements Under USAID’s Mahefa Miaraka Program:

1. Helped the government update the National Community Health Policy and adopt new health policy guidelines, which included universal health coverage and a National Strategic Plan for Strengthening Community Health 2019 – 2030.
2. Established 5,205 Community Health Coordination and Development Committees.
3. Equipped and trained approximately 10,000 community health volunteers. The volunteers will continue to support 4,125 health huts and 734 basic health centers.
4. Trained more than 9,500 community health volunteers how to treat common childhood diseases and provide reproductive health and family planning services to mothers and youth.
5. Treated more than 377,000 cases of malaria in children under five years old, conducted nutritional screenings for more than 1,112,000 children under five years old, and referred 13,435 cases of severe malnutrition to health centers for treatment.
6. Helped more than 468,000 women access modern family planning methods and increased the use of modern family planning methods among young people by 8% compared to 2017.
7. Developed emergency medical evacuation plans in 97% of program-supported fokontany. 71,000 patients used emergency community transport services set up by the program.
8. Trained community health volunteers to lead discussions, educate, and provide access to family planning options in their communities. Community health volunteers now provide 2.5 million community members with health information and education services every three months.

The Mahefa Miaraka program was a collaborative effort between USAID and the Ministry of Public Health, the Ministry of Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene and the Ministry of Population, Social Protection, and Women’s Promotion. JSI Research & Training Institute implemented Mahefa Miaraka in collaboration with Action Socio-sanitaire Organisation Secours (ASOS), Family Health International 360 (FHI 360), and Transaid.

This partnership is an excellent example of how the United States and Madagascar are working together like “mpirahalahy mianala” to improve and expand access to community health services. The U.S. government is the largest single-country donor to Madagascar's health sector, providing $72 million in 2020 alone to fund USAID’s health projects. These projects reduce Madagascar's maternal and child mortality, provide access to potable water and sanitation, protect communities from malaria, improve access to family planning, ensure a reliable supply chain of vital health care supplies and medication, and reinforce the national community health policy.

Sources: Press release by U.S. Embassy Antananarivo - USAID Madagascar

ANTANANARIVO – The U.S. government, through the United States Agency for International Development’s (USAID) Rural Access to New Opportunities in Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (RANO WASH) project, has donated equipment and supplies to ensure proper sanitation and hygiene in six COVID-19 treatment centers. This donation supports the Ministry of Public Health’s COVID-19 response strategy in coordination with the Ministry of Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene.

The donation, valued at approximately $10,000, includes washable coveralls, rubber boots, gowns, filter masks, gloves, hand-washing devices, disinfectant sprayers, and other cleaning materials. USAID is sending the materials directly to COVID-19 treatment centers in Alaotra Mangoro, Amoron'i Mania, Atsinanana, Haute Matsiatra, Vakinankaratra, and Vatovavy Fitovinany.

This donation is the latest iteration of USAID’s ongoing collaboration with the Government of Madagascar. The two countries are working together like “mpirahalahy mianala” to ensure the health and protection of the Malagasy people from COVID-19.

To end the global pandemic, USAID is taking bold action. We have contributed billions of dollars to fight COVID-19 in more than 120 countries. In Madagascar alone, the United States has provided $2.5 million in emergency funding to support the Government of Madagascar’s COVID-19 response and repurposed $2.2 million worth of USAID health projects to respond to the coronavirus pandemic. In November and October 2020, USAID donated $29,000 worth of computer equipment through the RANO WASH project to Madagascar’s Ministry of Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene to strengthen the Ministry’s information management system and coordination for COVID-19 response. In March, the U.S. government donated “head-to-toe” personal protective equipment to front line health care workers in 13 areas of Madagascar hard hit by COVID-19.

The United States is the largest single-country donor to Madagascar's health sector, providing $74 million in 2020 alone to fund health projects managed by USAID. RANO WASH is USAID's largest water and sanitation project in Madagascar. Over a five-year period, the U.S. government is investing $30 million to improve access to water for hundreds of thousands of people in 250 rural communes in six regions of Madagascar that face a chronic shortage of drinking water.

For more information on the RANO WASH project, visit https://ranowash.org

Source: Press Release by U.S. Embassy Antananarivo / USAID Madagascar