Seasonal malaria chemoprevention set to reach more than 30 million children for the first time

The number of children set to receive seasonal malaria chemoprevention in 2020 will exceed 30 million for the first time, according to the latest figures presented by national malaria programmes at a global planning and review meeting in Ghana last week.

Seasonal malaria chemoprevention (SMC) will be implemented in 13 countries this year across the Sahel: Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Togo. Of the 30 million children that will receive SMC in 2020, 12 million will be reached with support from Malaria Consortium’s SMC programme.

The global meeting, which was held in Accra, brought together policy makers, SMC implementers and partners working in the Sahel, and included representatives from national governments, the World Health Organization, Roll Back Malaria, The Global Fund, the President’s Malaria Initiative, Malaria Consortium, Catholic Relief Services, Medicines for Malaria Venture, the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, and others.

The programme director of Malaria Consortium’s SMC programme, Christian Rassi, presented the latest updates on plans for the 2020 campaign, including its strategic focus on evidence and quality – two themes that were discussed frequently during the course of the meeting. It was agreed by governments and partners that both areas require more attention, coordination and harmonisation across the region.

“Gathering together governments, implementers and partners at this meeting was incredibly valuable,” Christian Rassi said. “Sharing ideas and information with each other enables us to harmonise SMC efforts across the Sahel, improve quality and reach more children to save more lives. We also need to invest in generating evidence of how SMC can be delivered effectively and with maximum impact.”

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