Giving Compass' Take:

• Rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs) have been instrumental in malaria elimination. And between 2013 and 2016, WHO collaborated with PSI and a consortium of malaria experts to create a roadmap for optimizing private sector RDTs. 

• This roadmap will provide 40 steps that national malaria control programs and stakeholders can follow to support RDTs in the private sector. It is a step in the direction of sector-collaboration in global development. What other successes have we seen when the private sector becomes involved in global development issues?

• Read about how this foundation is tackling malaria. 

Widely available, accurate and affordable rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs) have revolutionized malaria case management. But all suspected malaria cases must be screened, 100 percent of the time, especially if we want to reach the World Health Organization’s (WHO) ambitious 2030 goal of reducing the global malaria incidence and mortality rate by 90 percent.

We haven’t yet reached full RDT coverage, an essential step to reaching the WHO’s goal. In countries with a high burden of malaria, the gap is starkest, especially where consumers seek testing and treatment in the private sector. Comprehensive policy, regulation, quality assurance and supply-side strengthening all create challenges when establishing RDT services in the private sector.

Until this year, there was little global guidance provided to governments that needed assistance engaging with private providers and their consumers on how they could best work to achieve universal testing goals and effectively manage cases of malaria.

Between 2013 and 2016, the WHO collaborated with PSI and a consortium of malaria experts to stimulate private sector markets in five African countries for quality-assured malaria RDTs, using funding from Unitaid. Informed by evidence they found, PSI, WHO and the partners from this project created a roadmap for optimizing private sector malaria rapid diagnostic testing, published in May 2019.

The roadmap describes 40 steps that national malaria control programs and stakeholders can follow to support the use of quality-assured RDT services in the private sector.

Read the full article about the roadmap to malaria elimination by Stephen Poyer at PSI.