Estimating cost of expanding community-based malaria control

Genesis calculated the incremental cost of implementing and scaling-up community-based interventions in southern Angola to reduce the spread of malaria to neighbouring countries.

This donor-supported initiative aims to reduce the transmission of malaria across borders. It plans to do so through intensive community-based case management and the wide distribution of long-lasting insecticidal nets.

Elimination Eight, representing eight neighbouring countries, coordinates interventions that are being implemented by PSI and World Vision in Angola.

As part of a bigger study, Genesis was responsible for estimating the incremental cost of expanding case-management activities to other districts. This costing exercise required the re-coding and analysis of the implementing agent’s general ledger to facilitate an allocation of incremental expenditure to both cost categories and pre-defined activities. In-kind contributions were also analysed.

Stakeholders and implementers were interviewed with a customised interview tool translated into the local language. The analysis provided valuable insights into the key cost drivers and identified the significant loss of time recorded by community activists travelling between villages and the potential for significantly increased supervision costs in deep rural settings.

These findings will inform the planning for the expansion of interventions to other districts.