Login at 9 AM ET to https://connect.johnshopkins.edu/qualmalariadrugs
Join HC3 on Wednesday, November 2, 2016, from 9 – 10 AM EDT for a webinar on promoting quality malaria medicines.
Background:
Improvements in malaria testing, prompt care-seeking and treatment with Artemisinin-based Combination Therapy (ACT) have contributed to a 37% global reduction in malaria incidence and 60% global reduction in malaria mortality between 2000 and 2015. Unfortunately, the widespread availability of substandard, spurious, falsified, falsely-labeled and counterfeit malaria medicines in sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia threatens this progress. The presence of poor quality medicine, as well as medicine diverted from the public regulated sector to the private informal sector, can also negatively influence consumer behavior, waste individual income and national budgets and contribute to artemisinin resistance.
While there are a number of stakeholders working on these issues – ranging from regulation, medicine quality assurance and surveillance, and law enforcement – there have been few strategically-designed and evaluated programs that use social and behavior change communication (SBCC) to improve demand for quality malaria medicines and influence behaviors around buying, selling and using these medicines.
Presentations will highlight issues with malaria medicine regulation and quality assurance, the process and results of an SBCC campaign in Akwa Ibom, Nigeria, and the launch of a new online tool to support program managers and local staff in developing SBCC strategies tailored to their local needs.
Presenters include:
- Martin Cinnamond, Team Leader, The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria
- Jennifer Wray, Senior Malaria Advisor/Commodities, USAID/President’s Malaria Initiative
- Cheryl Lettenmaier, Senior Technical Lead, HC3
- Cori Fordham, Program Officer, HC3
There will be a discussion immediately after the webinar on Springboard for Health Communication Professionals. Click here to register for Springboard in advance of the discussion.
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