In the fight to reduce mortality rates due to malaria, innovative approaches have been piloted and championed by donors and organisations, one of which is the Seasonal Malaria Chemoprevention targeted at children.
''In many countries in the Sahel sub-region of Africa, malaria transmission is notably
seasonal, with most of the disease burden occurring during a distinct rainy season. In
recent years, seasonal malaria chemoprevention (SMC) has emerged as an
approach to prevent malaria among children aged 3-59 months in areas where
malaria transmission is highly seasonal. SMC involves the administration of monthly
treatment courses of a combination of antimalarial drugs with the objective of
maintaining therapeutic antimalarial drug concentrations in the blood throughout the
period of greatest risk.''
A Start-Up Guide was developed to provide the Nigeria National and State Malaria
Elimination Programmes, implementing partners, and stakeholders with a practical
guide to planning, implementing and evaluating a sustainable programme for
seasonal malaria chemoprevention (SMC) in northern Nigeria. http://www.malariaconsortium.org/media-downloads/677/Seasonal%20malaria%20chemoprevention%20programme%20start-up%20guide
Prevention of Malaria in Children making high impact, reaching 3 - 6million children in 1year. http://www.malariaconsortium.org/media-downloads/930/ACCESS-SMC%20Impact:%20Three%20years%20of%20SMC%20in%20the%20Sahel
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