By Dr. Dorothy Echodu, Chief Executive Officer and MPI Ambassador, Edited by Dr. Wendy Thanassi, Board Member, MPI
Seasonal malaria chemoprophylaxis (SMC) is “the intermittent administration of a curative dose of antimalarial medicine during the malaria season, regardless of whether the child is infected with malaria.[1]” Typically, 3 to 5 monthly cycles of sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine plus amodiaquine (SP+AQ) are given to children under 5.
In the new WHO Guidelines for malaria released November 2022, country programs are given the latitude to decide where and when to use SMC, though the guidelines note that SMC is likely to be most effective where transmission is intensely seasonal[2].
SMC was first recommended in 2012 for use in the band of semi-arid countries in the Sahel region (the word “sahel” comes from the Arabic meaning “shore” and marks the littoral zone between the Sahara Desert and the savannah grasslands).
Over the last decade, SMC has been very successful, averting 80% of malaria cases in children 3-59 months old, and saving health systems and families significant amounts of money[3].
Recently, countries beyond the Sahel have begun to trial SMC. Uganda conducted a successful trial of SMC in two districts in the highly infected northeastern region of Karamoja , where monthly cycles of SP + AQ were delivered from May through September.
The results were so encouraging –90% effectiveness in preventing cases in that period, relative to control– that Uganda is now making SMC part of national country policy, and will scale up SMC to the remaining 5 districts in the Karamoja region in the near future
[1] WHO Guidelines for malaria, 25 November 2022. Geneva: World Health Organization; 2022 (WHO/UCN/GMP/ 2022.01 Rev.3). License: CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO.
[2] WHO Guidelines for malaria, 25 November 2022. Geneva: World Health Organization; 2022 (WHO/UCN/GMP/ 2022.01 Rev.3). License: CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO.
[3] Gilmartin, Colin, et al. “Seasonal malaria chemoprevention in the Sahel subregion of Africa: a cost-effectiveness and cost-savings analysis.” The Lancet Global Health 9.2 (2021): e199-e208.
Reflections on our Malaria Work in Zambia – How we got here, where we go next
On September 8th, 2023, the Rotary International President Gordon McInally announced that Rotary and its partners World Vision and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation will be implementing the Rotary Healthy Communities Challenge which will build on the successes of the Partners for a Malaria-Free Zambia project and scale that work to 3 other countries.
Strengthening Community Case-based Surveillance for Malaria in North Bank Regions of The Gambia
Malaria Partners West Africa has been engaging with PATH and The Gambia’s Ministry of Health and National Malaria Control Program (NMCP) to design a new initiative aimed at strengthening community case-based surveillance for malaria in the North Bank Regions of The Gambia.
Malaria Ends With Me
By Peter Mubanga Ng’andu – Rotaract Club of Lusaka
As a Project Management & M&E professional, I believe in data driven interventions and that’s why when an opportunity to volunteer in Data Quality Audits (DQA) emerged, I gladly took it in the spirit of service above self.