PNG-NMCP 2018-2020 - Evaluation of the Papua New Guinea National Malaria Control Program, 2018-2020

Papua New Guinea (PNG) has long been considered the country with the highest malaria transmission outside of sub-Saharan Africa. Over 90% of the approximately 8 million people are at risk of malaria infection, with Plasmodium falciparum and P. vivax both being endemic across the country.

Since 2004, the National Malaria Control Program (NMCP) has been supported by the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria which allowed repeat national distribution campaigns of long-lasting insecticidal nets (LLIN) since 2004, and scale-up of malaria rapid diagnostic tests (mRDT) and artemisinin-based combination therapy (ACT) in health facilities since late 2011.

This project aims to assess outcomes and impacts of the Global Fund supported NMCP in PNG. Results from this continued independent evaluation and accompanying operational research will support the continued scaling-up of interventions and provide evidence required under the Global Fund grant agreement. The project will provide accurate, up-to-date information on malaria control intervention coverage, prevalence of malaria infection, and on different aspects of the changing malaria epidemiology in PNG, including on the local transmission of malaria in the Highlands region and the level to which local malaria vectors have established resistance to insecticides employed in current malaria control interventions. It is a continuation of the successful ongoing evaluation and research activities that started in 2008 and have since produced a wealth of evidence to support the NMCP.

Activities under this project include:
Activity 1: Stratification (defining areas with distinct malaria burden amenable to different combinations of interventions)
Activity 2: School Malaria Survey (assessing malaria prevalence in school aged schildren)
Activity 3: National Malaria Indicator Survey (assessing intervention coverage and malaria prevalence nationwide)
Activity 4: Insecticide Resistance Monitoring

Project partners:

• Papua New Guinea Institute of Medical Research
• Burnet Institute
• Walter and Eliza Hall Institute
• PNG National Department of Health
• Rotarians Against Malaria PNG

Involved Regions: East Asia and Pacific
Involved Countries: Papua New Guinea, Australia

Seidahmed O.M.E, Kurumop S, Jamea-Maiasa S, Timbi D, Tandrapah A, Hetzel M, Pomat W. Papua New Guinea malaria indicator survey 2019-2020: final report on malaria prevention, infection prevalence, and treatment-seeking. Goroka: Papua New Guinea Institute of Medical Research, PNGIMR, 2021

Cleary E, Hetzel M.W, Clements A.C.A. A review of malaria epidemiology and control in Papua New Guinea 1900 to 2021: progress made and future directions. Front Epidemiol. 2022;2:980795. DOI: 10.3389/fepid.2022.980795

Seidahmed O, Jamea S, Kurumop S, Timbi D, Makita L, Ahmed M, Freeman T, Pomat W, Hetzel M.W. Stratification of malaria incidence in Papua New Guinea (2011–2019): contribution towards a sub-national control policy. PLoS Glob Public Health. 2022;2(11):e0000747. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pgph.0000747

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