IHOSY - Each year, the United States government through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and its partners, and in partnership with the Madagascar Ministry of Public Health, conducts a campaign to protect the Malagasy people from malaria.

This year’s Indoor Residual Spraying campaign (IRS) will focus on treating 280,000 buildings in five high-transmission health districts of the country: Ihosy, Sakaraha, Betioky, Ampanihy, and Toliara II.

The treatment will protect over 1.3 million people from malaria.

Minister of Public Health, Prof. Julio Rakotonirina, and USAID Mission Director John Dunlop jointly presided over the official launch event.

At the event, Mission Director Dunlop spoke about the range of malaria prevention and treatment activities USAID supports in Madagascar, "IRS is an effective strategy for fighting malaria," he said.  "Combined with other interventions, including the proper use of long-lasting insecticide-treated nets, intermittent preventive treatment for pregnant women, and rapid case management, it will accelerate progress towards eliminating malaria in Madagascar."

The campaign is funded by the U.S. government through the President’s Malaria Initiative (PMI) and implemented by the PMI-VECTORLINK project, in partnership with the National Malaria Control Program (NMCP).

The three districts of Ihosy, Betioky, Ampanihy, among the most affected by malaria in Madagascar, benefit for the first time from this activity. "The choice of these three districts reflects the willingness of all players that support NMCP, including USAID, to bring the services closer to the people most affected by malaria and to have greater impact," declared Mission Director Dunlop during the launch event.

The ceremony was attended by many Ihosy residents, local authorities in the district, representatives from the Ministry of Public Health at national, regional, and district levels, NMCP officials, and technical and financial partners.

Through the U.S. President’s Malaria Initiative (PMI), the United States Government supports the implementation of Madagascar’s national malaria strategy through the distribution of insecticide-treated bed nets, indoor residual spraying, protecting pregnant women against malaria, and treatment of people with malaria.