PAHEF partnered with the Pan American Health Organization and The George Washington University for the third annual Malaria Day in the Americas to honor individuals and organizations fighting malaria within Latin America and the Caribbean.

Held at PAHO’s headquarters in Washington, DC, the day’s activities began with a welcome message from PAHEF’s executive director, Edward L. Kadunc. He explained how the meeting was the third Malaria Day in the Americas event and the first year the Malaria Champions of the Americas award was being given. Mr. Kadunc spoke of various successes in fighting malaria in the Americas during the last decade such as the 50% reduction in malaria-morbidity from 2000 to 2008 and the distribution of more than 2.1 million bed nets between 2004 and 2008.

Next, Dr. Keith H. Carter, senior advisor on malaria and other communicable diseases at PAHO, provided an overview of malaria in the Americas. He was followed by a presentation from Dr. Carlos Espinal, director for public health in Latin America at Sanofi Pasteur, entitled “Malaria and Mobile Populations.” The final presentation was given by Dr. José Nájera, former director of the Malaria Action Program at the World Health Organization on “Lessons Learnt during the Eradication Era and Their Possible Application to Malaria Elimination in the Americas.”

The Nominees

The three nominees for the award were:

La División Salud de la Fundación FES Social-DSFES from Colombia 
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Servicio Nacional de Control de Enfermedades Transmitidas por Vectores Artrópodos/Control de la Malaria en las Zonas Fronterizas de los Países Andinos: 
Un Enfoque Comunitario (SNEM/PAMAFRO) from Ecuador 
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Dr. Mario H. Rodriguez Lopez of the National Public Health Institute in Mexico 
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A jury of prominent experts in neglected tropical and infectious diseases selected the winning champion. At approximately 3:45 p.m. SNEM/PAMAFRO was named the 2009 Malaria Champion of the Americas for their work in Ecuador.

Over the first three years of SNEM-PAMAFRO’s project, several major victories have been achieved: 500,000 blood samples were taken, 10,213 total diagnosed cases, and the burden of disease was reduced by 66% in the intervention areas.

SNEM-PAMAFRO received:

• a $2,500 cash award from PAHEF for malaria-related capacity-building efforts

• the opportunity to participate in three select PAHO capacity-building activities for malaria prevention and control

• support from a George Washington University Global Health Service Fellow for approximately three months to aid in research and field work

• a plaque and certificate

See related article: Malaria Day in the Americas is November 6