Malaria Consortium and eGov Foundation join Mozambique’s national malaria programme to digitalise seasonal malaria chemoprevention campaigns

In a new collaboration, Malaria Consortium and eGov Foundation will support Mozambique’s National Malaria Control Programme (NMCP) to roll out a new digital tool to accelerate the digitalisation of seasonal malaria chemoprevention (SMC) campaigns.

Malaria Consortium, working with the NMCP, will utilise the open-source integrated campaign management platform, DIGIT, developed by eGov as a part of this year’s SMC campaign in Nampula province in northern Mozambique. The tool will support the delivery of SMC and the distribution of sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine (SP) plus amodiaquine (AQ), known as SPAQ, across all 23 districts in Nampula, where malaria transmission is highly seasonal.

Mozambique was one of the first countries to step forward to adopt DIGIT as an integrated campaign management platform. The NMCP committed in early 2023 to using the platform first for long-lasting insecticide-treated net campaigns (2023), shortly followed by the upcoming 2024 SMC campaign. Since then, Malaria Consortium, eGov Foundation and other stakeholders have participated in a technical working group led by the NMCP to drive campaign digitalisation in Mozambique. Through this forum, stakeholders are collectively ensuring that the needs and priorities of SMC campaigns are fed into the DIGIT platform design, exploring the practical considerations of implementing digital campaigns, and planning for the broader digital transformation of health campaigns in Mozambique.

Using the DIGIT platform, known locally as Salama, SMC campaign staff can register participant households and individuals, record the distribution of SPAQ to eligible children, record suspected adverse events to medication and pharmacovigilance, monitor and manage stock, supervise and monitor campaign staff activities, and record onward referrals into the health system. The tool aims to facilitate good coverage of digital data reporting by simplifying the process of producing digital campaign dashboards and reports. The dashboards and reports will help to provide good quality data to support local –decision-making and campaign adjustments. 

Maria Rodrigues, Malaria Consortium’s Country Director in Mozambique, said: “We expect that SMC campaign digitalisation will become an integral part of country health system priority and benefit people in a way that is ethical, safe, secure, reliable, equitable and sustainable. It’s been developed with principles of transparency, accessibility, scalability, replicability, interoperability, privacy, security and confidentiality to allow its greater use and scale-up. The use of quality, timely and accurate campaign data will improve the quality of SMC campaign implementation and research effectiveness.”

The project builds on work conducted by Malaria Consortium in recent years to further the digitisation of paper-based processes as well as the wider digital transformation of campaign-based health services, and to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of malaria prevention strategies in the region. The intervention takes place as a part of Malaria Consortium’s wider seasonal malaria chemoprevention programme and is funded through philanthropic donations received as a result of being awarded Top Charity status by GiveWell, a non-profit organisation dedicated to finding outstanding giving opportunities.

Based in Bangalore, India, eGov Foundation works with governments to leverage technology for improvements to quality of living and is supported by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Nandan Nilekani Philanthropies, Omidyar Network India and Tata Trusts.

Learn more about Malaria Consortium’s work on digital health

Learn more about Malaria Consortium’s SMC programme

Country: Mozambique

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