A project run by the WHO Malaria Programme with a grant from the Government of Canada seeks to reduce deaths in children under 5 years of age living in remote rural areas.

The idea is to build capacity and equip community volunteers to recognize， diagnose and treat malaria， diarrhea and pneumonia - the 3 top childhood killers. Between 2013 and 2015， more than 7，500 community health workers living in a thousand villages across 5 countries in sub-Saharan Africa will be trained to care for 1.2 million children.

“Too many young children are dying in rural， remote parts of this country， and 80% of those deaths are precipitated by 3 diseases - malaria， pneumonia and diarrhea. This is senseless， because we have excellent tools to diagnose and treat all of them，” says Dr Bacary Sambou， a technical officer in the WHO Country Office of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) office. “It makes me angry and sad. But we are about to make a big change， by reaching more children with diagnosis and treatment， right where they live.”

The Rapid Access Expansion Programme

Dr Sambou directs a programme called the Rapid Access Expansion Programme – RAcE 2015 for short – in the DRC. The programme， run by WHO with a grant from the Government of Canada， covers 4 African countries in addition to DRC: Malawi， Mozambique， Niger and Nigeria. The programme’s objective is to select community volunteers living in remote villages and train them to identify and treat 3 diseases. They are being trained to recognize the symptoms of malaria in children under the age of 5 years， diagnose with a rapid test， and treat affected children with an artemisinin-based combination therapy， a highly effective and safe anti-malarial treatment. The community volunteers are also being trained to treat diarrhea with oral rehydration salts plus zinc; and how to recognize pneumonia and treat it with the antibiotic amoxicillin. The programme provides all the tests， medication and storage equipment they need.