As countries of the Americas work to decrease the burden of malaria in the Region, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), United Nations Foundation, the George Washington University Milken Institute School of Public Health (MISPH), the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health Center for Communication Programs (JHU-CCP), and the Global Health Consortium at the Stempel College of Public Health & Social Work, Florida International University (FIU-GHC), seek to identify, celebrate, and provide avenues to emulate best practices and success stories in malaria prevention, control, elimination and the re-establishment.
Conceived and launched on 6 November 2008 during the 2nd annual commemoration of “Malaria Day in the Americas”, the Malaria Champions of the Americas Award honors innovative efforts that have significantly contributed towards overcoming the challenges of malaria in communities, countries, the Region, or the globe. The recognition is conferred to implementers and provides them and their respective projects and institutions opportunities for capacity building, an expanded network for technical collaboration, and the distinction of being role models and inspirations for the global battle against malaria. Since 2009, twenty four Malaria Champions of the Americas have been recognized. They have come from Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Paraguay, and Suriname.
The “Malaria Champions of the Americas” Award recognizes programs, organizations or collaborations that operate at local or national level and have used innovative approaches to overcome the challenges of malaria in the Americas. The focus of the 2017 search is on malaria programs or efforts which demonstrate the use of malaria surveillance and / or universal access to malaria diagnosis and treatment as essential components of malaria elimination and prevention of re-establishment. Applications must demonstrate initiative to address the challenges of ensuring adequate access to early diagnosis and quality treatment; and generating local surveillance actions aimed at containing the transmission.. Activities should be ongoing or completed within one year from Monday, June 26, 2017.
In addition to this year’s focus, nominations will be evaluated based on demonstrated achievements in the following areas:
Capacity Building
Exhibits use of the PAHO-WHO best practice in malaria prevention, control, elimination, and prevention of reintroduction, particularly T3 – Testing (Diagnosis), Treating (Treatment), and Tracking (Surveillance). Contributes to the development of trained health workers and infrastructure.
Innovation
Demonstrates the use of approaches to foster equity and increase the quality and uptake of services. This could include use of integrated service delivery; community-based strategies, behavior change communication efforts, efforts to combine treatment with prevention, integration of gender, ethnicity, human rights, health promotion, primary health care, and social protection frameworks, etc., to promote malaria control, elimination, prevention of reintroduction of local malaria transmission, and other health outcomes.
Collaboration
Foster partnerships with stakeholders within and across sectors that fortify and broaden the scope and reach of activities.
Impact
Demonstrate measurable contribution to decreasing malaria-related morbidity and mortality in the community, country, region or globe. The program or organization carrying out project activities must be a legally established, registered bona fide entity. The nominated activities must not be projects carried out directly by PAHO, the UN Foundation, the George Washington University MISPH, the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health CCP, or the Florida International University Global Health Consortium.
Nominations for the “Malaria Champions of the Americas” will be accepted from 25 April 2017 to 26 June 2017 (11:59 p.m. EST). To download forms, visit the Malaria Champions of the Americas 2017 website. A select panel of judges representing various sectors and stakeholders will review the top qualifying submissions and select the three top nominees. A documentary will be produced about each of these three finalists that will profile their achievements and efforts in overcoming the challenges of malaria. The panel of judges will use these three documentaries to assist in the final selection of a winning candidate. The top nominees will be announced in July 2017 and will be invited to participate in a regional event that commemorates Malaria Day in the Americas on 6 November 2017 where the “Malaria Champion of the Americas” will be honored.
The 2017 “Malaria Champion of the Americas” will receive:
- Opportunity to participate in three PAHO capacity-building trainings for malaria prevention, control, elimination and prevention of re-establishment
- US$2,500 funding support for malaria-related capacity-building efforts (e.g., staff training / education; research; project proposal development; or other activities that enhance skills and abilities to achieve goals and targets)
- Commemorative plaque; and,
- Opportunity to be featured in various communications platforms of PAHO, UN Foundation, GWU-MISPH, JHUCCP, and FIU-GHC as a best practice story on malaria.
The top three nominees will be invited and hosted to participate in a regional event for the commemoration of Malaria Day in the Americas on 6 November 2017 where the “Malaria Champion of the Americas” will be honored.
*Use of photographs/copyright: Please note that by submitting your nomination and supporting documents to the contest you agree to allow the materials to be reproduced, published or exhibited by the Pan American Health Organization, United Nations Foundation, George Washington University Milken Institute School of Public Health, the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health Center for Communication Programs, and Global Health Consortium at the Stempel College of Public Health & Social Work, Florida International University grant unrestricted use in future media, educational or promotional materials.
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