SMC extended to more countries thanks to SMC IMPACT project

Malaria Consortium is pleased to join Medicines for Malaria Venture (MMV), London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) and Catholic Relief Services (CRS) to further expand seasonal malaria chemoprevention (SMC) in five countries in the Sahel region of Africa.

Funded by the Republic of Korea, through its Global Disease Eradication Fund, SMC IMPACT will see partners work closely with the national malaria control programmes of five countries – Guinea, Mali, Niger, Nigeria and The Gambia – to further reduce the burden of malaria. The project aims to reduce existing gaps in SMC coverage, explore the additional benefit of a fifth cycle (where local transmission patterns justify), increase the evidence-base for SMC to be administered to older children (up to 10 years of age) and train healthcare workers to administer a new artemisinin combination therapy (ACT) for the treatment of acute uncomplicated malaria.

“SMC has proven to be extremely effective in reducing child morbidity and mortality from malaria in Nigeria,” explains Chibuzo Oguoma, Malaria Consortium’s Programme Director for SMC in Nigeria. “Malaria Consortium has delivered SMC in Nigeria since 2013 and last year we reached almost 10 million children under five. But there are still gaps in coverage where we believe SMC can help save more lives. This partnership means we can expand our SMC activities in the north-eastern Bauchi State and reach an estimated 200,000 more children in areas not previously covered by our programme.”

Malaria Consortium is a leading implementer of SMC globally and in 2020 delivered this life saving intervention to around 12 million vulnerable children under five across Burkina Faso, Chad, Nigeria and Togo, with a new study exploring the feasibility and impact of SMC currently underway in Mozambique.

In 2020, together with global SMC stakeholders, Malaria Consortium led the development of global operational guidance on implementing SMC in the context of COVID-19 to advise on the necessary adaptations required to minimise the risks of COVID-19 transmission, from conducting training to the distribution of the antimalarial medicines to households by community distributors. The guide has been published by Roll Back Malaria (RBM) Partnership to End Malaria and endorsed by the World Health Organization.

Plans were adapted in all countries to ensure our campaigns were delivered safely and in line with government COVID-19 containment efforts. You can read more about our recommendations on the safe delivery of SMC in Nigeria here.

Find out more about Malaria Consortium’s SMC work.