Amazon Malaria Initiative: About

About AMI

A Medical Worker Examines a Malaria Patient

Launched in 2001 with support of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the Amazon Malaria Initiative (AMI) is a seven country regional program in the Amazon basin implemented in Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru, and Suriname—country members of the Amazon Network for the Surveillance of Antimalarial Drug Resistance (Red Amazónica para la Vigilancia de la Resistencia a los Antimaláricos, or RAVREDA)— through a consortium of partners including the ministries of health of the participating countries and technical partners through an innovative, collaborative decision-making model. AMI is working to contain and then eliminate malaria in the Amazon basin and bring lessons learned and networking to other countries in the region and globally.

Main lines of interventions include:

Surveillance of antimalarial drug resistance
Drug policy implementation
Access to quality of diagnosis and treatment
Improved decision-making in malaria vector control
Communication and information dissemination

Specific activities include:

Determination and monitoring of drug efficacy and implementation of evidence based new antimalarial drug policies;
Harmonization of national drug policy with specific sub-regions of the various countries;
Building human capacity in the region regarding malaria issues;
Building decentralized laboratory capacity through the use of minilabs;
Testing the effectiveness and appropriate use of selected new rapid diagnostic methods;
Implementing integrated vector control through selective control application;
Addressing drug quality control by strengthening the countries current pharmaceutical management systems.
Increasing knowledge in target groups about AMI lines of interventions and best practices.

Why Malaria?

In 2008, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) reported 560,221 malaria cases in The Americas, 30% less than the number reported in 2007. Mortality decreased by 52% in the same period.

Malaria is endemic in 21 countries of the Americas. Countries in the Amazon region had 89% of the continent’s total disease burden in 2008. Among the Amazon countries, Brazil has the highest proportion of disease cases with 315,553 cases in 2008 and 56% of the total cases in the Americas.
(Source of data: PAHO. 2008. Report on Situation of Malaria in the Americas, p. 7 and 13. Accessed June 24, 2010.)

Malaria is caused by parasites in the genus Plasmodium and is transmitted by a mosquito vector in the genus Anopheles. There are 30-40 mosquito species that can transmit the disease. These species vary in their preferred breeding habitat, but most feed during non-daylight hours. This behavior accounts for the effectiveness of bed nets in preventing the spread of infection.