Group Pivot Santé Population recently selected Project Muso’s Community Based Malaria Program as a model program for its best practices exchange program. GPSP is a nationwide Malian coalition of civil society health organizations. It acts as a pivot-point for nationwide action to fight malaria. Conducting interviews in the field with residents of Yirimadjo, GPSP’s team learned about the impact that Project Muso’s malaria program has already made in its first seven months. Community members provided such inspiring accounts of how the program had changed their lives that GPSP decided to organize a two day exchange visit to Yirimadjo with a delegation of Malian non-profit health organizations.

Representatives of these non-profits, including Association des Jeunes, Dukoury, Jigia, Keneyaciwara, and Voice of Mali, arrived in Yirimadjo from points across rural and urban Mali, to study Project Muso’s Community Based Malaria Program. In sessions with Project Muso’s 20 Community Health Workers, Coordinator Dr. Ichiaka Koné, and Technical Support Volunteer Mary Virginia Thur, participants in the session learned about Project Muso’s strategies for saving lives from malaria: Community Health Worker training in malaria diagnosis and treatment, ensuring comprehensive primary care access for the poor, and strengthening the capacity of the government health system. Community Health Workers shared their stories with the visiting NGOs, explaining their perspective on being the arms, ears, and voice of the health care system, linking vulnerable families with the care they need. At the end of the two day session, participants discussed the lessons and strategies they would bring back to their own work.

Project Muso will to continue sharing the results of its malaria pilot program as they emerge. Through exchanges like this, the Project Muso team contributes to national and regional dialogue about the most effective ways to stop malaria infections and deaths, about the best ways to build strong health care systems for communities living in poverty.