Increasing our impact

Creating a legacy of change

To encourage innovative change-makers to partner with us, we’re implementing evidence-based programs that help define and measure our impact. Through data-driven decisions, we can improve our projects and outcomes, creating more effective change that can be scaled up and applied to other communities.  

Partners for a Malaria-Free Zambia is the first recipient of The Rotary Foundation Programs of Scale grant. Each year, Programs of Scale will provide $2 million to expand a well-developed service program that is led by a Rotary club or district and has demonstrated success in effecting change.

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and World Vision U.S. are each providing an additional $2 million in funding to Partners for a Malaria-Free Zambia to increase its impact and strengthen the country’s health system.

Malaria is a preventable disease, but in Zambia, it is a leading cause of illness and death, especially among infants and new mothers. The Rotary Club of Federal Way, Washington, USA, has been working with partners and Rotary clubs in Zambia and other countries to fight malaria for more than a decade. Together, they’ve distributed tens of thousands of mosquito bed nets, drug treatments, and testing kits. They’ve used Rotary Foundation global grants to train and deploy more than 1,500 community health workers, a measure that has proved highly effective in curtailing malaria and other health conditions in rural areas. Partners for a Malaria-Free Zambia will build on current partnerships and evidence of success to bring even more lifesaving care to communities. 

The program aims to reduce malaria cases in 10 target districts in two Zambian provinces. It is training 380 health facility staff members and more than 2,500 new community health workers, increasing access to malaria diagnosis and treatment for more than 1.3 million people. Health workers are supplied with rapid diagnostic test kits, antimalarial medicine, and educational materials. They also have bicycles and mobile phones to allow them to reach remote communities and share malaria data within the national health system.