Lessons from using SALAMA (DIGIT HCM—health campaign management platform) to implement and optimise seasonal malaria chemoprevention in Nampula, Mozambique

Authors: Abdul Mussa, Maria Rodrigues, Sonia M Enosse, Louise Cook, Liberty Bunce

Digitalisation of the seasonal malaria chemoprevention (SMC) campaign in Nampula province, Mozambique, enhanced implementation, with real-time dashboards facilitating data monitoring and supervision so that any issues could be rapidly identified and addressed.

Mozambique has the fifth highest malaria burden globally, with children under five most affected. To reduce this impact, Mozambique adopted seasonal malaria chemoprevention as a national strategy. In 2024, the National Malaria Control Program, in collaboration with Malaria Consortium and eGovernments Foundation, transitioned from paper-based to digital data collection using the DIGIT Health Campaign Management platform. We describe the digitalisation process from planning to implementation and document the lessons. 

A cascade training and real-time dashboards facilitated data monitoring, stock tracking and supervision. Key results included improved sulfadoxine–pyrimethamine plus amodiaquine administration, enhanced data use for daily decision-making and early identification of outliers. For example, in Moma district sulfadoxine–pyrimethamine plus amodiaquine wastage exceeded 10 percent on the first day — unusual wastage rates are defined as >5 percent — prompting immediate targeted supervision which reduced wastage on subsequent days. Challenges including device power constraints, internet connectivity and local technical capacity, which were addressed through training and on-the-ground technical support. The digital approach improved campaign efficiency, transparency, responsiveness and supervision quality. Administrative coverage rates (75–109 percent) were more consistent with survey-based household coverage (~74 percent) in the digital campaign than the paper-based campaign, which were 93–105 percent and ~79 percent, respectively. Importantly, the digital approach allowed for the visualisation of the proportion of first-day doses recorded digitally in real time and the direct observation of therapy adherence, an important indicator of seasonal malaria chemoprevention campaign quality. 

This experience highlights how digital innovations, when well-coordinated and adapted to local contexts, can enhance malaria prevention and provide a case study to inform the scaling digital health interventions across public health programmes in Mozambique.

Published in Oxford Open Digital Health

Citation: Oxford Open Digital Health, 2026; 4: oqaf036.