CPI works with communities across Myanmar to control and eliminate deadly infectious diseases including malaria, tuberculosis and hepatitis.
CPI has been particularly engaged in efforts to defeat malaria in under-served, remote and conflict-affected communities in Myanmar through transmission prevention, early diagnosis and treatment delivered by community-based networks and mobile outreach services.
Working closely with international academic institutions and community partners, CPI is pioneering new approaches to combat the emergence of drug-resistant malaria strains that threaten years of gains made against the disease. CPI is also working to develop mechanisms to use malaria prevention and treatment networks in underserved and hard-to-reach contexts to combat other key infectious diseases such as HIV/AIDS and Tuberculosis.
Selected Projects
EQUIP Hepatitis C Project Period: June 2017 - September 2018 Donor(s): The U. S. President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), USAID, EQUIP Geographic Coverage: Yangon and Mandalay, Myanmar Approx. Population Coverage:800 key population members Community Partners is conducting a pilot project to evaluate the cost and treatment outcomes of a simplified antiviral treatment strategy for hepatitis C virus (HCV) among HCV mono-infected and HIV/HCV co-infected individuals. CPI is working with three project implementing partners - the Myanmar Ministry of Health and Sports (MoHS) National Hepatitis Control Program, Liver Foundation (Myanmar) and Right to Care - to scale up access to concurrent HIV/HCB testing, direct acting anti-HCV agents (DAAs) based HCV treatment, and universal coverage of antiretroviral therapy (ART) for general and key populations. The goal of the project is to improve access to HCV treatment and to enhance ART initiation and adherence in HIV/HCV co-infected persons. Eligible participants will be enrolled in treatment for 24 weeks (12 weeks on treatment and 12 weeks post-treatment) at two different sites in Yangon and Mandalay.
Community Leaders Eliminating Artemisinin Resistance (CLEAR) Project Period: September 2013 - December 2018 Donor(s): Three Millennium Development Goal Fund (3MDG) Geographic Coverage: 14 townships Kachin, Kayah, Kayin and Mon States, and Tanintharyi Region, Myanmar Approx. Population Coverage: 326,932 people Community Partners International (CPI) supported six local partners to provide early malaria diagnosis and treatment, transmission prevention and containment for communities in 14 townships in Kachin, Kayah, Kayin and Mon States and Tanintharyi Region. In areas where malaria incidence prevalence has been reduced almost to zero, CPI helped partners to develop mobile outreach screening services for migrant worker populations and the most remote communities, and task shifting the network of trained malaria post workers to screen for HIV and TB. This included supporting the development of referral systems for suspected and confirmed cases of these three diseases. In January 2018, as malaria prevalence declined, the project scope was broadened to strengthen health systems and improve access to integrated, quality health services in project areas. In January 2019, these activities in Kayin and Mon States were transferred to the Better Health Together Project supported by the Access to Health Fund .
Border Malaria Elimination Project (BMEP) Period: July 2014 - December 2017 Donor(s): Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Malaria and Tuberculosis (GFATM) Geographic Coverage: Three townships in Tanintharyi Region, Myanmar Approx. Population Coverage: 32,000 people in 3 townships CPI supported two local partners to eliminate artemisinin-resistant malaria in hotspots in three townships in Tanintharyi Region. Pioneering diagnosis and treatment methods were developed in partnership with the MoHS Department of Medical Research (DMR) and malaria experts at the University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB). The project included the development of a diagnostic laboratory at the DMR in partnership with UMB. CPI is now supporting partners to develop mobile outreach screening services for migrant worker populations and the most remote communities, and task shifting the network of trained malaria post workers to screen for HIV and TB. This included supporting the development of referral systems for suspected and confirmed cases of these three diseases.