Medical Care Development International (MCDI) is excited to announce that it is a member of a partnership that has been successfully awarded a new contract by USAID to support the President's Malaria Initiative (PMI) to Advance the Progress of Malaria Service Delivery (APMSD) in 28 malaria-affected countries. The project, worth over $160 million USD over five years, will be delivered by a consortium of core partners, led by PSI and including MCDI, JHPIEGO and University of California - San Francisco (UCSF).

The project will focus on supporting national malaria control programs in USAID-supported Malaria Endemic countries including 25 in Africa and three in Asia. The interventions aim to improve quality of and access to malaria case management and malaria in pregnancy interventions. They will also improve quality of and access to other malaria drug-based approaches and provide support to pilot/scale-up newer malaria drug-based approaches. Global technical leadership, support for operational research, and advances in program learning are priorities as well. In addition to the core team, private sector partner Akros and University of Oslo and Medicines for Malaria Venture will provide support.

Under APMSD, MCDI will play a lead role in the area of improving malaria diagnostics and co-lead in malaria treatment. In this capacity, MCDI will provide technical assistance to build host countries' capacities to scale up high-quality diagnosis and treatment services for malaria, focusing on expanding the use of high-quality diagnostics, strengthening laboratory systems, fostering appropriate treatment of malaria, and improving quality assurance and control for both malaria diagnosis and treatment.

Globally, the world has made remarkable progress in controlling malaria; halving the burden of disease between 2000 and 2015, but progress is stalling. The WHO’s most recent World Malaria Report highlights the current state of case management of children under five years and delivery of intermittent presumptive treatment for pregnant women as major concerns.

The U.S. President’s Malaria Initiative, led by USAID and implemented with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, is the U.S. Government’s primary vehicle for assisting malaria affected countries to scale up proven malaria control and elimination interventions.

The PMI Strategy for 2015-2020 accounts for much progress over the past decade and offers a strategy for new and emerging challenges. Malaria prevention and control remains a major U.S. foreign assistance objective and PMI’s strategy fully aligns with the U.S. Government's vision of ending preventable child and maternal deaths and protecting communities from infectious diseases. By working with PMI-supported countries and partners, the U.S. Government aims to further reduce malaria deaths and substantially decrease malaria morbidity, towards the long-term goal of elimination.

MCDI has worked with PMI for over a decade to improve malaria service delivery around the world - as the lead implementing partner for the Improving Malaria Diagnostics (IMaD) project from 2007-2012, and as a sub-partner under the MalariaCare project (2012-2017). MCDI is proud to continue their work with USAID and its partners to take bold steps to further reduce the burden of malaria and save lives.