An Evaluation of the Communication Strategies Used by the National Malaria Control Center to Combat Malaria in Zambia

As the National Malaria Control Centre (NMCC) moves into 2015 and beyond, community communication programs should be as critical as during initial scale-up periods to ensure sustainability of the individual and community behaviors regarding malaria prevention and treatment. A key aspect of implementing the various interventions is the need to produce and document, on a timely basis, the relevant data and information for capturing malaria outcomes and service provision. This work should be read as an attempt to evaluate the communication strategies used by the National Malaria Control Center to combat malaria in Zambia. The researcher spent 52 days at NMCC participating in the day today activities of the organisation and reviewing the material that has been produced on malaria communication. Secondary source materials were reviewed and these provided a wealth of information used in this work. There is very little evidence of malaria communication research and practitioners are largely dependent on a 'gut feel'. Audience segmentation and profiling are not practised. This is demonstrated by the lack of audience profile and preference research and the limited capacity to segment and target audiences according to specific information needs and most appropriate means of communication.