Malaria in Pregnancy (MIP) is a UNICEF supported project to control malaria in pregnancy especially in the highly endemic malaria provinces of Eastern Indonesia. The incidence of malaria in pregnancy in Eastern Indonesia is 3.9 %, affecting about 180,000pregnancy per year (HHS 2001). If not prevented or left untreated, complications such as postpartum hemorrhage, anemia, low-birth weight babies, or miscarriage may occur.

Over the past 5 years USAID has funded UNICEF to systemically integrate malaria into routine antenatal services, initially working in Papua, West Papua, Maluku Island, NTT, and NTB. The integration of malaria prevention and control brought the diagnosis and treatment of malaria to the village level, and increased access for pregnant women to long-lasting insecticide-treated bed nets, rapid diagnostic testing.

The Indonesian government, through the Ministry of Health, then adopted this small-scale project and made malaria in pregnancy a national program to be implemented in all malaria endemic areas. UNICEF will continue to support the second phase of the malaria in pregnancy program by supporting the Ministry of Health (MOH) to develop a national roll-out strategy for malaria endemic areas, provincial technical empowerment, and to support district governments to establish sustainable malaria prevention and control programs especially for pregnant women and children. UNICEF’s technical support will focus on advocacy (local governance, improved allocation of district budget towards health); health system strengthening ( supportive supervision, supply chain management, LAMAT (local area monitoring and tracking) integrated with malaria and immunization (data management tool); clinical technical support for in-service training through the district health office; and support to the local midwifery academy to improve the pre-service curriculum for the prevention of malaria in pregnancy. 

USG will also support UNICEF’s operational research related to the control of malaria in pregnancy. The research will be conducted by the Eijkman Institute, the MOH, and the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine to support a trial comparing effectiveness of single screening during ANC, multiple screening during ANC, or presumptive treatment with the latest generation malaria drug to gather evidence to support the national policy on malaria in pregnancy.