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Pilgrim Africa was honored to be a part of the first-ever Public-Private-Partnership (PPP) for indoor residual spraying (IRS) in five urban slums of Kampala District, Uganda, carried out in January 2022. As part of the PPP IRS pilot, Pilgrim Africa (PA) conducted a community-based survey in children 15 years.
and under in both PPP-sprayed and unsprayed urban slums.
Collaborating closely with the Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) and the National Malaria Control Division (NMCD), the PA team engaged 16 village health teams and 8 local councils to enumerate all households in 5 sprayed and 2 unsprayed parishes prior to survey implementation. A total of 400 households were randomly selected from each strata to participate in the survey, which consisted of a household questionnaire, a caretaker’s questionnaire and a malaria biomarker assessment using rapid diagnostic test (RDT) to test and treat children 15 years and under in the household.
From April 22nd – May 7th, 2022, interviewers surveyed a total of 738 households, 731 caretakers and assessed 1,212 children 0–15 years of age.
The community-based survey found that malaria in slum dwellers in unsprayed homes is 7 times higher than it estimated for city residents on average. The survey also revealed significant housing and environmental deficiencies that expose residents to mosquitoes, and also serve as breeding and habitat sites for malaria mosquitoes. Roughly 50% of households in both PPP-IRS and unsprayed parishes reported feeling unprotected from mosquito biting while at home, and 70% feel their environment (i.e. the stagnant water, sewage and drainage) is the cause. While only a small proportion of households use mosquito repellent (6%) or mosquito coils (5%), almost 40% of households dry out puddles and stagnant water around their house.
Though IRS is a highly effective intervention in high burden malaria areas, it may not be the stand-alone intervention for urban settings, where the surrounding environment continues to breed malaria mosquitoes. Results from this survey can help inform a multipronged approach for urban settings. A combined public-private partnership with community engagement can support malaria prevention and control in a largely ignored and vulnerable population.
In alignment with 2022 World Malaria Day’s message of “strengthening country ownership,” Pilgrim Africa collaborated with multiple partners to implement the first-ever Public-Private-Partnership for malaria vector control in Kampala.
Guided by the National Malaria Control Division and spearheaded by Malaria-Free Uganda, numerous public and private organizations worked tirelessly to carry out indoor spraying in neglected households in five urban slum areas.
Pilgrim Africa staff are now surveying the work, measuring malaria infection rates and interviewing families. Impact is beginning to show!
Mrs. N. Jane is a single mother of four children and is a resident of Kisenyi slum in Kampala. The slum is characterized by high poverty levels; makeshift, crowded housing made of temporary building materials; poor drainage and accumulated garbage; high levels of school dropouts; teen pregnancies, a high burden of communicable diseases; and a high crime rate.
Jane operates a small restaurant and does food vending within this slum and stays in a two-room rented house with her four kids and one grandson. The house is located next to a blocked drainage channel that collects sewage and rainwater from the neighboring households. Before the spraying of the slums by Pilgrim Africa, Jane was constantly in and out of clinics treating herself and the children for malaria almost every month. Jane would barely save a penny from her small vending business since the clinics would consume 20,000-30,000 UGX ($6-$9) for each treatment per person.
Now, three months after Pilgrim’s spray campaign, there has not been a single episode of malaria in Jane’s household. She has managed to save part of her children’s school fees from her business and pay the outstanding debt on for two months rent. Jane can sleep soundly since the spraying reduced the heavy infestation of bedbugs in her house.
This is the work Pilgrim Africa is privileged to support:
country-led, all hands-on deck, unafraid of resource constraints.
This is the story of the most burdened among us;
a story of power, love, and sound minds that will defeat malaria.
Happy World Malaria Day!
Pilgrim Africa is proud to have collaborated in a pioneering effort as part of the Government of Uganda’s response to fight malaria among the most vulnerable, particularly women and children. We partnered with Uganda’s National Malaria Control Division (NMCD), Malaria Free Uganda (MFU), MP’s from Uganda’s Parliamentary Forum for Malaria, the Kampala City authority (KCCA), BenCity, and Ecobank in the first-ever public-private partnership to deliver a successful multi-sectoral urban mosquito control initiative in 5 slum areas in Kampala, which made national network evening news in Uganda.
Thanks to the persistent efforts of NMCD, MFU and our team, Pilgrim Africa was able to provide insecticide, personal protective equipment, and technical assistance and assessment to the ongoing spray project which targets the city’s slums, and the facilities surrounding them by spraying walls and surfaces where mosquitoes carrying malaria parasites often rest. Malaria Free Uganda and partners met the other costs of the campaign.
Thank you again to our supporters for challenging despair with us in the midst of the COVID crisis! Please pray for the safety of our team, and the people of Uganda.
Blessings,
The Pilgrim Team
It is with great pleasure that we announce the completion of the Katakwi Rotary Malaria Project (KRMP) Phase II endline survey, and with it the operational research phase of this incredible project!
This project has been a remarkable collaboration between the National Malaria Control Division (NMCD), Malaria Partners International (MPI), Rotary International (RI), including multiple clubs in the US and in Uganda headed by Soroti Central Rotary Club and Seattle #4, President’s Malaria Initiative (PMI), the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) and Pilgrim Africa. We are so grateful to all the partners.
Over the last two years our Village Health Teams (VHTs) have accomplished wonders:
On average, VHTs treated approximately 1.8 cases of malaria per person over this two year period,
This August, the Pilgrim Africa field research team assessed the comparative effectiveness of two different types of community case management: integrated community case management (iCCM) vs proactive community case management (ProCCM) on malaria burden. VHTs in the ProCCM arm tested and treated at least 8x as many individuals as VHTs in the iCCM arm. Did this level of testing and treating have any transmission suppressing impact?
To answer this question, the field researchers braved the rainy season, the risks of Covid, and violent unrest in the study area to survey 4,146 community residents. They asked questions about household characteristics, malaria care and treatment practices, and the coverage of prevention tools, and simultaneously measured malaria infection levels. Results were compared with baseline and midline surveys conducted in 2020 and 2019.
The findings were presented and discussed with all partners and independent scientists working in East Africa and internationally during a successful Project Advisory Committee meeting on September 24, 2021.
The results, which were somewhat surprising, showed that ProCCM had no transmission suppressing effect relative to iCCM. However, ProCCM relieved the outpatient burden in catchment area health facilities relative to iCCM, which is critical in light of severe understaffing. ProCCM also caught more severe malaria in the community, which helps to prevent malaria related mortality and the debilitating aftereffects of severe malaria. ProCCM also improved antenatal uptake of preventive care, crucial to protect newborns and mothers.
These outcomes highlight the lifesaving impact VHTs have on their communities. Community case management, coupled with vector control to prevent malaria, effectively addresses the outsize risk of malaria mortality in children under 5. As a result, NMCD, RI, MPI, World Vision (WV) and Pilgrim Africa are planning iCCM scale-up in Katakwi District for 2022.
Enormous thanks and gratitude to all those who supported the lifesaving work and research executed during KRMP. You supported VHTs to deliver lifesaving care to over 51,000 people, generated important evidence for policy, and provided impetus to scale up this important intervention to an entire district.
Pilgrim Africa has received a coveted four-star rating from Charity Navigator, the nation’s top charity evaluator.
The rating is based on Pilgrim Africa’s demonstration of strong financial health and its commitment to accountability and transparency.
Since 2002, using objective, data-driven analysis, Charity Navigator has awarded only the most fiscally responsible organizations a 4-star rating. In 2011, Charity Navigator added 17 metrics, focused on governance and ethical practices as well as measures of openness, to its ratings methodology. These “Accountability & Transparency” metrics, which account for 50 percent of a charity’s overall rating, reveal which charities have “best practices” that minimize the chance of unethical activities and whether they freely share basic information about their organization with their donors and other stakeholders.
“Pilgrim Africa’s coveted 4-star rating puts it in a very select group of high-performing charities,” according to Michael Thatcher, President & CEO of Charity Navigator. “Out of the thousands of nonprofits Charity Navigator evaluates, only one out of four earns 4 stars — a rating that demands rigor, responsibility and commitment to openness. Pilgrim Africa’s supporters should feel much more confident that their hard-earned dollars are being used efficiently and responsibly when it acquires such a high rating.”
The highest possible rating by Charity Navigator illustrates Pilgrim’s commitment to be a wise and effective steward of donations offered by individuals who give in trust and with the charge to impact lives. It represents Pilgrim’s commitment to good governance and highlights how we pursue our mission in a fiscally responsible way.
Pilgrim Africa’s rating and other information about charitable giving are available free of charge on www.charitynavigator.org. More detailed information about Pilgrim Africa’s rating is available to Charity Navigator site visitors who become registered users, another free service.
Blessings,
The Pilgrim Team
Thank you to all of our supporters for making the construction of the COVID Triage Center at Beacon of Hope College possible!
Construction workers have been working long hours in order to prepare the campus for the arrival of medical staff, volunteers, and patients from the community.
In the pictures above, you can see workers painting, adding tiles, and reinforcing the structures so medical teams will be able to quickly set up and start treating the community.
Construction will be completed in the following days, and we will share updates and pictures once the COVID Triage Center is up an running.
Thank you again to our supporters for challenging despair with us in the midst of the COVID crisis! Please pray for the safety of our team, and the people of Uganda.
Blessings,
The Pilgrim Team
(This GoFundMe campaign has been completed)
COVID-19 is spreading rapidly throughout Africa. The BBC says “Uganda is of particular concern, recording a 131% week-on-week rise in cases, with isolation centres and intensive care units under strain.” Fewer than 2% of the Ugandan population has received even a first dose of vaccine and nearly 20% of all COVID tests are coming back positive.
Uganda’s President has now closed much of the country. Families are left without income or public support. Hospitals are overflowing with patients and are running out of space. It is urgent that we step in to help.
Pilgrim Africa has decided that Beacon of Hope School and Beacon Medical Center will be used as emergency intake centers for Soroti Regional Hospital for as long as schools remain closed to students.
This will offer rapid relief for the hospital and for patients who would not otherwise be seen. We will provide initial testing, triage and some patient care.
This is a massive undertaking in a short amount of time and we need your help.
We need to modify the school for medical use and then return the facilities to their school layout when students are allowed to return. The cost for this work is $40,000. We have initial commitments for just under $10,000.
Will you join us in providing the emergency medical services needed during this critical time? Your gift will allow the Soroti Regional Hospital, in partnership with Pilgrim, to save many lives in Uganda.
You can donate today at our GoFundMe (Our campaign is no longer active at this time).
Thank you for your support and prayers!
Pilgrim Africa Team
SOWETO, South Africa—Sello Kgoale watched his neighbors shuttling back and forth with looted liquor, refrigerators and flat-screen televisions. There were no police at a nearby mall, they told him, so the 46-year-old father of three joined the thousands-strong mob ransacking the shopping center and filled three bags with rice, cooking oil and paraffin for his family’s cooking stove.
“I’ve never done anything like this before. I’m ashamed,” he said last week, sitting in his corrugated-iron shack. “But we just keep getting hit.”
—
The violence and hopelessness seen in this article from today’s Wall Street Journal are being repeated throughout Africa.
It is not enough that our Pilgrim Africa field team is placing their lives on the line as they visit the sick, they have no human protection from mobs and roving bands of criminals; and even from hopeless neighbors.
Please add our team to your prayer list and support their work financially at PilgrimAfrica.org. They are not hopeless and continue to serve in the name of Jesus, whatever may come.
#hopeisthework
https://www.wsj.com/articles/covid-pandemic-south-africa-riots-a-warning-for-developing-world-11626711622?st=h550x08t3nac7lq&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink
On Sunday the President of Uganda announced that all schools will be closed for the next 42 days, and that only local travel will be allowed as they have started to see a significant second wave of COVID-19.
Just like the first wave, Uganda is acting firmly to keep COVID-19 from spreading more significantly. They kept the transmission rate quite low this last year due to their strict measures, and we expect that to be the case with this current short-term order.
However, on June 4th, Uganda registered its highest single day record with 1259 confirmed cases, at a positivity rate of 17%. Because the number of severe cases and deaths is higher than in the first wave, many fear a second full lockdown.
These new restrictions create logistical and financial issues for Pilgrim, as our malarial work will be made more difficult by travel restrictions. And Beacon of Hope’s income will be reduced as the school is closed for the next six weeks.
During the Pilgrim Uganda Board Meeting this past weekend the lockdown was discussed. We are committed to continue our work through our Village Health Teams, malarial research, and partnership with Beacon of Hope School during this second wave, and are prioritizing the safety of our team.
Please join us in praying for the Ugandan community during this difficult and scary time.
On April 25, we celebrated World Malaria Day! World Malaria Day is when we mark successes in the fight against malaria, highlight the responsibility we all have to end malaria within a generation and urge leaders to step up the fight and get us closer to a malaria-free world.
While celebrations usually take place at the National level and are organized by the Ministry of Health National Malaria Control Division, this year they were organized at the regional level with the districts taking lead in organizing the celebrations, with support from the local IPs. Soroti district was selected to host the event in the eastern region, Arua for West Nile/ North and Kamwenge for Central and Western. The theme for this year was “Domestic Financing for Malaria – The Time is now” and the slogan was “Awakening the call to Chase Malaria to zero.”
Pilgrim conducted an exhibition on Entomological surveillance that included; Larval Source Management (LSM), CDC light traps, and PSC. During the parade Pilgrim led with a banner, and showed up in the fight to draw the line against malaria. Through our work, we will continue to determine the best avenues to drive high transmission areas to elimination!
We are excited to announce that we have partnered with Global Cause on the 2020 Fight Against Malaria campaign!
Dr. Dorothy Echodu, Pilgrim Africa’s CEO is featured in a piece that shares how Uganda’s progress offers hope in the malaria fight.
Read more on the importance of stepping up commitment and investment to end malaria from Dr. Echodu and other experts and industry leaders in the Guardian on June 3rd, 2020.
With only 58 cases reported so far, the entire nation of Uganda is on lockdown. Transport in any vehicle that is not government-sanctioned (including private cars and motorcycles) is forbidden, and several women in labor lost their lives in the last few weeks because they were unable to reach a hospital in time. Those who wish to keep food markets open must choose to sleep employees on site. As in many other countries, people have lost jobs and livelihoods in the economic slowdown caused by the lockdown.
But here, there is no health insurance, no paid leave, no unemployment to apply for, no food bank to go to, no individual subsidies, no loans to businesses, and a dwindling national food supply. Many Ugandans are in danger of not surviving the lockdown.
COVID-19 hasn’t killed anyone here yet. Malaria’s still the primary Grim Reaper. But Ugandans are no strangers to other deadly viruses, Ebola among them, which is part of why the response has been so swift. Internet is slow, strained and only available to a certain segment of society, mostly in urban centers. As a result there is not a lot of accurate information getting out to rural areas about COVID-19. Low levels of information lead to higher levels of fear.
Despite the challenges, we are not without hope. In fact, we know we need more than ever to do what we do: Love boldly, create catalytic change, and partner well. Here is what Pilgrim Africa is doing now to mitigate and address the effects of the COVID-19 crisis:
VHTs receiving their protective personal equipment
Right now, COVID isn’t killing anyone in Uganda. Malaria is. Our VHTs are already doing lifesaving work, and we are doing everything we can to ensure their safety and adapt to a new threat. We are also working to ensure that COVID-19 won’t be a deadly scourge in a Uganda under-equipped to meet the demand of care for critically ill patients.
We are working on other partnering initiatives as well to help the country in the current crisis, and will be updating you on these soon. For everyone in the world right now, coronavirus is changing all the rules and upsetting the status quo. In Uganda, there’s potential to manage those changes proactively and well to avoid great disaster. We are focusing on what Pilgrim Africa does best: fostering hope by creating a local and actionable, if ambitious and visionary, plan for a sustainable, prosperous healthy future.
Stay safe, and love boldly.
