Table 2 National Malaria Control Programme (NMCP) role and structure

Role

The programme, under the responsibility of the Ministry of Health, defines and leads the strategy of prevention and control of malaria at the national level. The NMCP is responsible for ensuring compliance with the malaria prevention and treatment national guidelines

National structure

Despite slight variations, the NMCPs are generally composed of a number of divisions including: case management; vector control; epidemiology and surveillance; monitoring and evaluation; research; finance, procurement and supply. The NMCP collaborates with partners, at national and international levels, through formal technical working groups (TWGs) and informal structures, and supports and supervises the implementation of malaria control interventions at national and district (or sub-county) level. Malaria policies are generally defined at national level

Sub-national structure

At district (or sub-county) level, a malaria officer from the NMCP is often in charge of the support and supervision of malaria control activities at all levels of health facilities, and at the community level for the delivery of interventions including long-lasting insecticidal nets (LLINs) distributions, indoor residual spraying (IRS), intermittent preventive treatment in pregnancy (IPTp) and case management