Seasonal Malaria Chemoprevention Campaign Reduces Severe Malaria in Young Children

Yembéring health center in the prefecture of Mali is located 80km from the main city of Labé in Middle Guinea. With an estimated 9,000 children between the ages of three months and five years, the Labé region has a high incidence of severe malaria in children during the rainy season. According to the Prefectural Director of Health of Labé, a low level of awareness, the failure to use modern preventive measures such as insecticide treated bed nets, poor sanitary conditions, and large household size were the major factors responsible for the high malaria incidence in rural households in the region.

To reduce the number of children with malaria in the Labé region and other parts of Guinea, the USAID-funded StopPalu+ activity has supported the National Malaria Control Program to implement the seasonal malaria chemoprevention (SMC) campaign since 2017 in selected districts. The first of four monthly rounds of the SMC campaign occurred from July 3 to 7, 2021, where more than 800 community health workers and community distributors issued prophylactic medication to prevent malaria in children under five years. In 2020, they reached 95 percent of targeted children in the region and hope to reach 100 percent this year.

Dr. Mamadou Houdy Bah, Regional Director of Health of Labé expressed his satisfaction with the SMC campaign as he has seen a reduction in severe malaria cases among children aged zero to five years and consequently a reduction of mortality.

“In my opinion, this malaria prevention campaign is an excellent intervention and should be extended to continue to reduce the burden of malaria on the communities. Before the SMC strategy, there was a child death due to malaria nearly every day in the health centers in this region, especially during the peak period in October. The introduction of the SMC campaign with the StopPalu + project has enabled us to overcome this challenge.” - Dr. Mamadou Houdy Bah.

This year, the StopPalu+ activity has launched the SMC campaigns in five prefectures of the Labé region and the prefectures of Gaoual and Koundara in the Boké region. In total, over 250, 000 children between zero and five years will receive preventative malaria medication from these campaigns in these prefectures.

Madame Hadjaratou Keita, a school delegate in the prefecture of Tougué ensures that if children learn about malaria prevention practices it will not only reduce malaria, but also contribute to disease control in their communities.

“In our schools, we teach the children how to use and take good care of the mosquito net, not to wash the mosquito net, to sleep under the net, not to accumulate water in the yard, and that when they get a fever, they have to go to the health center. Parents testify that the children always insist on respecting the teachers’ instructions at home,” says Madame Hadjaratou Keita.