Latin America Malaria Hero winner: Jaime Chang

About the Award

Most Latin American countries have met the Millennium Development Goal for 2015 of reducing the number of diagnosed cases by 75%, and six countries have entered the pre-elimination phase. The progress is promising and elimination is within reach with the combined efforts of advocates and activists, researchers, health workers and those in between. This category award recognizes the individuals who use social media most effectively to promote progress towards malaria elimination and showcase the work that is happening to achieve this goal.

 

About Jaime Chang

Jaime is the coordinator of the Amazon Malaria Initiative, an effort supporting national malaria control programs in eleven countries. Jaime Chang has worked with USAID for over fifteen years as a project management and public health specialist. Most of his work has been in Peru and South America, but he has also worked in Mozambique and Zambia. Dr. Chang trained as a physician and obtained his Masters in Public Health at the Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia and has an MSc in Community Health in Developing Countries from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. 

With decades of experience in health care, health systems, and tropical disease research, Dr. Chang has fought malaria in both his native Peru and internationally. His work with the Amazon Malaria Initiative is marked by a collaborative, knowledge-sharing approach. AMI has a strong social media presence, on both Facebook and Twitter, including a Facebook discussion group, of which Dr. Chang is an active member. The AMI discussion group includes hundreds of members, sharing information about malaria in Latin America, along with dialogue about elimination in both Spanish and English. 

For more on Jaime Chang’s malaria work, view his LinkedIn profile.

 

Selected comments from supporters 

Lightly edited for clarity 

  • “Jaime Chang is a true malaria champion and his hard work is well recognized in our region and abroad.” (Antonio Quispe)
  • “Dr. Chang has dedicated professional and personal time and effort to leveraging the power of social media and its assets to raising awareness, inform and educate in support of the prevention, treatment and elimination of malaria.” (Marisabel Sanchez)
  • “Jaime Chang has been very helpful to us as the consultant team supporting the development of the 2nd Generation GMAP ‘Action and Investment to defeat Malaria 2016-2030 (AIM) - for a malaria free world.’ The result of much consultation - including via social media - the document calls for multisectoral engagement on malaria and facilitates learning across the world regions. The Amazon Malaria Initiative has generated a lot of experiences and innovations that we were able to tap into.” (Helen Prytherch)
  • “Jaime actively contributes to the establishment of a strong and committed Latin American community fighting malaria, using all available media. He does a terrific job, and that is why he is a hero!” (Andre Siqueira) 
  • “Jaime Chang actively fostered information exchange with a regional community of practice via virtual channels. As a result, the evidence base for malaria control in English, Spanish, and Portuguese has been disseminated more widely for use in Latin America and the Caribbean. He is a true visionary who understands malaria communication as a complex, iterative process that requires constant research, adaptation, and the use of novel channels in order to be as effective as possible.” (Julie de Carvalho)

 

 

Check out Jaime's interview with Tim France below, as well as the amazing custom illustration (click image for larger version):

 

About the Latin America Award partner: ISGlobal

The Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal) is devoted to improving global health and promoting health equity through excellence in research, training, policy and development. ISGlobal has a longstanding tradition in multidisciplinary approaches to malaria and hosts an initiative specifically devoted to malaria elimination. In 2013, in recognition of its trajectory in this field, it was designated a World Health Organisation (WHO) Collaborating Centre for Malaria Control, Elimination and Eradication.

Follow updates from ISGlobal on Twitter, Facebook and Vimeo.

More about Jaime Chang
 Check out Jaime's LinkedIn profile, and AMI's Facebook and Twitter pages. 

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