Malaria medicine planning based on transmission risks.
The PAHO Strategic Fund, in collaboration with the Regional Malaria Program, has developed an innovative tool for planning antimalarial medicine needs using the morbidity method, which includes aspects of the elimination strategy and considers local stratification to maintain minimum inventories of treatments distributed based on risk level, protocols, and parasitic resistance profile.
The solution enables decentralized quantification, which visualizes peripheral demands while retaining pooled procuring at lower costs.
Honduras is the pilot country.
This tool was piloted in Honduras in November 2023, through virtual training sessions and a mission organized by PAHO for the actual quantification of needs, with 14 Regions of the Secretariat of Health SESAL participating and coordinated by the ULMI Medicines and Supplies Logistics Unit. The method was overseen by multidisciplinary teams, which included health staff, physicians, pharmacists, logisticians, and program managers, among others.
During these sessions, specific treatment protocols for Honduras were collected, transmission risks were mapped based on malaria stratification, and the participating regions' malaria diagnostic and treatment networks were assessed. Furthermore, inventories and epidemiological data on the disease were gathered from both the source and end users, allowing for accurate quantification of demands and solid, quality procurement plans.
