LUSAKA, Zambia — In Zambia, a new and innovative technique is being established to combat and control the continuing spread of malaria, the second highest cause of death in the country.
Over the past two years, PATH, an international non-profit health organization, in collaboration with Tableau and the Tableau Foundation, has led the fight against malaria in Zambia through a unique pioneering process: tracking.
Well, data accumulation and visualization to be precise.
Visualize No Malaria, the partnership campaign between PATH and the Tableau Foundation, has fundamentally created and implemented a ‘high-quality disease surveillance system’ to trace locations where malaria has been tested for, identified and treated.
The process begins with health workers who test inhabitants for the disease. The results of the test, whether positive or negative, are submitted by data collectors to Visualize No Malaria, either electronically or physically. Organizing the accrued data visually on a map creates the ability to pinpoint specific areas and regions of Zambia where malaria currently is and locate patterns to predict where the disease will be next.
And it’s safe to say the initiative works.
Cases of malaria in Zambia over the past two rainy seasons (periods when mosquitoes and transmission rates are most active) have substantially declined by 93 percent.
These results could not have been possible without the collaboration between PATH and Tableau, which began with PATH proposing one thing: “How would you like to help us eliminate malaria in Zambia?”
Since then, PATH has mainly taken the role of accumulating data from health workers, inputting the information onto a map, and even launching treatment campaigns in an attempt to cure highly affected communities.
The Tableau Foundation, on the other hand, has provided the necessary and crucial software to gather information, training and monetary funding for PATH, as well as committed two people on the ground in Zambia.
Although the number of malaria deaths worldwide has decreased by 48 percent over the last 15 years, the disease still poses a significant threat to millions of people.
But strides are being made each year to further combat malaria.
In 2015, the World Health Organization recommended the first malaria vaccine candidate, ‘RTS,S,’ for a pilot sub-Saharan Africa implementation program.
‘RTS,S,’ was produced through a secondary partnership between PATH’s Malaria Vaccine Initiative (MVI) and GlaxoSmithKline Biologicals (GSK), with additional support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
Currently, 25 percent of Zambia’s health facilities use mobile rapid data reporting to advance malaria tracking and treatment. Eradicating malaria would save millions of people, help boost African economics and strengthen education across the continent.
Visualize No Malaria’s goal is to eliminate malaria in Zambia by 2020, and ultimately establish a world without the devastating disease.
Utilizing inhabitants and health workers to transmit real-time malaria data to one location has proven itself to work, and with continuing determination and execution of this technique, the organization’s seemingly colossal goal could very well be achieved.
While the path to attaining a world without malaria may have transformed, the dream remains feasible. “With better surveillance and data, we can stamp out this disease,” said Jeff Bernson, Director of Results Management, Measurement, and Learning at PATH.
– Jordan J. Phelan
Photo: Flickr