Public-Private Partnerships Can Help Senegal Achieve Malaria Prevention Goals
New York Times: In a Corner of Senegal, a Victory Over Malaria
Amy Yee, journalist
“Thousands of seasonal migrant workers flock to Richard Toll, a dusty city in northern Senegal near the Mauritania border. They come for work at the Senegalese Sugar Company, the country’s second-largest employer after the government. In addition to their skills, they may also bring malaria. This flow of migrant workers once made Richard Toll a malaria hot spot in Senegal. But a partnership between government and a private company has had remarkable results fighting the disease. … In 2011, a Senegalese government malaria program, in partnership with PMI and an American public health nonprofit named PATH, approached the sugar company. They told Dr. Aboubacar Gassama, the company’s chief medical officer, that malaria could be eradicated there. … After many attempts at agreement, the program eventually took shape. It worked immediately. Over the next six months the company reported a total of 24 malaria cases — about what it used to experience in one day. And in 2016 there were only 29 cases for the entire year — all of them brought by migrant workers. … How was this result achieved? Partnership between government and the company was critical, as well as focusing on prevention…” (5/1).
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