Nigeria

Malaria Control and Prevention

The HC3 Nigeria Malaria Project, funded by the U.S. President’s Malaria Initiative (PMI), worked with the National and State Malaria Elimination Programs and other partners to develop comprehensive social and behavior change communication (SBCC) programs for malaria prevention and control. Behavioral objectives included increasing uptake of long-lasting insecticidal nets (LLINs), intermittent preventive treatment in pregnancy (IPTp), rapid diagnostic tests and artemisinin-based combination therapy.

The project also strengthened the capacity of the National Malaria Elimination Program’s (NMEP’s) Advocacy, Communication and Social Mobilisation (ACSM) branch for SBCC leadership. Results from this collaboration included:

• National Malaria Theme Song: Production of the song and music video “Play Your Part” engaged popular Nigerian musicians 2Face Idibia, Sani Danja and Eve-B. To continue public discussion, a remix contest was organized with submissions from various professional and amateur song artists.
• Comprehensive Mass Media: Mass media efforts included a weekly radio magazine program in Pidgin English (Play Your Part) and Hausa (Taka Naka Rawan), the Nollywood-produced television drama series Newman Street, a set of six radio and television spots in Pidgin English and Hausa, and print materials. HC3 strengthened NMEP’s media capacity by building strategic media partnerships, developing a toolkit for media reporting and improving their online presence.
• Focused Interpersonal Communication (IPC) and Referral to Services: Intensive IPC activities were implemented in focal areas with a high malaria burden that are selected in collaboration with local authorities and community leaders. By linking home visits and community dialogues to mass media messaging, a community-media feedback loop was created. Community Volunteers also referred pregnant women and children with fever to health facilities. Preliminary analysis has shown that this has resulted in increased uptake of ANC and IPTp services, increased LLIN use and early health-seeking behavior in the focal areas.
• Good Quality Malaria Medicines Campaign: To reduce the prevalence of substandard, spurious, falsely-labelled, falsified and counterfeit (SSFFC) malaria medicines, a campaign was launched and followed by vendor and community volunteer training.
• SBCC Support to PMI LLIN Replacement Campaigns: The SBCC activities linked to the LLIN replacement campaign in Zamfara State in late 2015 reached over 80 percent of all Zamfara citizens, and resulted in higher rates of net hanging and use. HC3 will continue to provide SBCC support to PMI’s LLIN Replacement Campaigns in Benue, Oyo and Kogi States in 2016.
• Provider Initiatives: Targeting SBCC activities at health providers and forming strategic partnerships with them addressed the supply-side challenges in malaria interventions.
• National Malaria ACSM Guidelines: These guidelines and the accompanying user’s guide provided a common vision for health communication professionals across levels, enabling ACSM to lead and coordinate relevant stakeholders, and has resulted in greater harmonization of messages and materials among partners, reducing duplication of efforts and thereby leveraging funds from various donors.