Integrated delivery models
In many low- and middle-income countries, healthcare systems face persistent challenges — from limited infrastructure to shortages in funding and trained healthcare staff, to high disease burdens like malaria.
A powerful solution lies in integrating additional services into existing, trusted healthcare delivery platforms. By building on what already works, we can extend the reach of essential health interventions — especially to at-risk children and communities — while improving efficiency and reducing costs. But integration isn’t a one-size-fits-all approach.
Malaria Consortium works closely with national and local health authorities to identify where integration can truly add value. Our teams generate robust evidence to assess the feasibility, acceptability, and cost-effectiveness of combining services — ensuring that interventions are meaningful and impactful.
Vaccine integration for robust malaria prevention
Malaria vaccines are a vital addition to the public health toolkit — but their impact is greatest when used alongside existing interventions like insecticide-treated nets, seasonal malaria chemoprevention, and rapid case management. Integrating these tools ensures broader coverage, stronger protection and more efficient use of resources.
In practice: We are collaborating with the Ministry of Health and key partners to introduce the malaria vaccine into Uganda’s immunisation programme. This initiative will leverage existing healthcare delivery structures, build vaccine confidence and promote a multi-pronged malaria prevention approach in one of Uganda’s regions most vulnerable to the disease.
Read about our work with partners to strengthen resilience to tackle emerging health challenges.
Seasonal malaria chemoprevention: A proven platform reaching millions of children
Originally designed to prevent malaria in children under five during the peak transmission season, SMC has evolved into a delivery platform for other essential health interventions. By leveraging its vast reach and trusted network of community distributors, SMC can serve as a vehicle for delivering multiple health services efficiently and equitably, such as vitamin A supplementation (VAS), mosquito control measures and checking children’s immunisation status.
Integration in practice:
Full integration
In Nigeria, we are using the SMC campaign to co-deliver VAS to children. Vitamin A is delivered in two doses, four months apart. In practice, these doses are delivered through co-delivery with the SMC platform and via the Maternal, Newborn and Child Health Weeks, where children receive vitamin A alongside other services, including routine immunisation, deworming and postnatal care.
Partial integration
SMC’s extensive reach can be used to support other health initiatives, while keeping their delivery separate from SMC distribution. In Togo, we are using SMC campaigns to identify ‘zero-dose’ children and catch-up missed immunisations among under-immunised children, to improve childhood immunisation coverage. Identifying these children is essential to close immunisation gaps and ensures more children are protected from vaccine-preventable diseases.
Integrations for child survival
Working with the ministries of health in Ethiopia and Chad, we have developed and strengthened evidence-based strategies for child survival to reduce the number of deaths from preventable illnesses such as pneumonia and diarrhoeal disease. These strategies are informing national action plans and strategies for integrated management of newborn and childhood illnesses, and integrated community case management.
By decentralising healthcare services to community levels and empowering health extension workers, access and quality of child health services have improved. The integration of community-based health insurance has been an additional innovative introduction to further increase access to care, making healthcare more affordable for low-income families and helping to address issues such as supply shortages, poor service quality and low community engagement with services.
Find out more about community-based health services delivery.