The Global Fund and the U.N. Development Program (UNDP) in Principe and
São Tomé recently agreed to continue work toward eliminating malaria.
The agreement will allow health care workers to determine who is at the highest risk for developing malaria, which will help researchers to continue eliminating the disease from the nation.
“The new grant will provide a critical push to reach that final goal of completely eliminating the life-threatening disease over the whole country,” Mamisoa Rangers, UNDP’s program manager, said.
The $6 million will concentrate on raising detection rates of the disease. The money will also be used to treat new cases, continue indoor spraying, and improve the accessibility of other prevention methods, such as insecticide-treated bed nets.
“The government, its partners and the people of São Tomé have made great strides in realizing the dream of a country free from malaria,” Hamilton Nascimento, coordinator of the National Malaria Control Program at the Ministry of Health, said. “We must sustain the gains.”
Leaders intend to use the funds to continue improving the entomological and epidemiological surveillance systems so that there is a stronger response already established for the final phases of eliminating malaria.
