Online Program

Introductory Remarks

Malaria Champion of the Americas 2012: SENEPA, Paraguay The National Malaria Control Program of Paraguay (SENEPA) has reduced the burden of malaria by focusing on the elimination of local transmission and the use of a systematic model for testing, treating, and tracking malaria cases that emphasizes community volunteers, strategic supervision, support of personnel, assurance of quality services, and effective use of local resources. SENEPA’s surveillance system consists of a network of 4,868 volunteers working in coordination with local reporting units to ensure timely detection of suspicious cases. As of 2011, the number of malaria cases reported in Paraguay was down 99% compared with 2002. The country’s last malaria-related death was reported in 1989.

Celebrating 10 Years of Vaccination Week in the Americas This video highlights the 10-year history of Vaccination Week in the Americas, which grew out of a joint effort in 2002 by Andean countries to control a measles outbreak in border areas. Over the subsequent decade, Vaccination Week in the Americas grew into the largest international health effort in the Western Hemisphere. It also helped inspire the new World Immunization Week, first celebrated in 2012 as a global effort involving all six of regions of the World Health Organization (WHO).

Malaria Champion of the Americas 2011: Wampusirpi in the Fight Against Malaria, Honduras Honduras’s Integrated Management of Malaria in Wampusirpi, Department of Gracias a Dios, succeeded in reducing malaria cases more than 80 percent—from 337 to 60—between June 2010 and June 2011. The program was carried out by the Ministry of Health of Honduras with technical support from PAHO/WHO and in coordination with municipal committees and nongovernmental organizations. It employed interventions including insecticide-treated mosquito nets, identification of mosquito breeding sites, diagnosis and treatment for the population, and an educational campaign. Gracias a Dios, a geographically isolated department with a large indigenous population, has the highest incidence of malaria of any department in Honduras or Central America.

ONE year ONE team 4Haiti The Regional Coalition for Water and Sanitation to Eliminate Cholera in Hispaniola was established in June 2012 by the Pan American Health Organization/World Health Organization (PAHO/WHO), UNICEF and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The Coalition, which has grown to 20 member, provides technical expertise on cholera control and elimination to the governments of Haiti and the Dominican Republic and is working to mobilize resources to support the two countries’ 10-year national action plans for eliminating the disease by 2022.

Malaria Champion of the Americas 2010: National Malaria Board, Suriname The National Malaria Board of Suriname has overseen efforts that have virtually eliminated malaria from most of the country’s interior. Using funds from the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, the Board has sponsored training for lay people on the diagnosis and treatment of uncomplicated malaria in gold-mining areas, where the disease is now concentrated, and has improved surveillance in areas where the disease has been eliminated. The Board has also guided collaborative efforts between Suriname and French Guyana to reduce high rates of transmission along their common border. In conjunction with the University of Suriname, the Board also established a Malaria Gene Bank to help monitor the development of resistance to anti-malaria drugs.