Ms Soukhanthong Phavong is one of many health workers whose efforts play a pivotal role in malaria elimination in Lao PDR. She is the head of the Nanoy Health Center in one of the hard-to-reach areas in central Lao PDR, and has been working there for more than 10 years. Nanoy Health Center is in Khammouane Province, which is a malaria pre-elimination area. It is providing essential primary health care, including malaria related services, to approximately 3,000 population, spread across 10 villages.
Since she started her job at the Nanoy Health Center, the toll of malaria has been significantly reduced thanks to development assistance and the government’s commitment to reduce the malaria burden in the country. Ms Phavong talks about the changes she has witnessed since she started working at the health center, when many people had malaria. “When the development assistance and the malaria focused interventions came, along with a stronger commitment from the government, the malaria burden gradually went down, reaching the stage where only one malaria case was found in this health center coverage area in all of 2018,” she explains.
However, this is not yet the end of malaria and Ms Phavong cannot be complacent with this achievement. There is still one last mile to go in the race to achieve malaria elimination in the Greater Mekong Subregion countries, including Lao PDR: detecting and providing treatment to the one last malaria case is even more crucial.
In malaria pre-elimination areas, it is critical to investigate every single malaria case diagnosed, which can be more demanding, and requires meticulous efforts that should not be underestimated.
Once malaria has been diagnosed, health staff will go through a long list of questions to identify the type of malaria case, which will then inform the specific interventions that need to be carried out to eliminate malaria in the vicinity of the index case’s household.
Whenever the health center finds a malaria case, Ms Phavong and her colleagues notify the district malaria unit, at the same time completing the initial case investigation procedure. This crucial step triggers a full-blown investigation and response activities, targeted to malaria elimination, in that particular geographic area.
Even though her health center is located in a far-flung area, which is particularly hard to reach during the rainy season, Ms Phavong is happy to work at the Nanoy Health Center and to help the underserved population there with her knowledge and skills. “It is my pleasure to be in this position, at this health center, even though the living conditions are quite difficult. I feel great and it’s an honor for me, as I can help lots of people who are in need and are suffering from malaria or other diseases. That is what drives me to continue my work here,” she says.
UNOPS is the Principal Recipient for the Global Fund’s Regional Artemisinin-resistance Initiative 2 Elimination (RAI2E) grant, and has been supporting the National Malaria Control Programme, Ministry of Health and several other implementing partners in Lao PDR since 2014. In 2018, RAI2E supported the training of more than 2,000 health staff in malaria case management and surveillance, and health management information system in Lao PDR. Close to 2,000 village malaria workers in the country were also trained in integrated community case management with RAI2E support in 2018.
