Photo story: SMC beyond the Sahel - protecting children from malaria in Uganda (10 photos)

Malaria Consortium is supporting Uganda’s National Malaria Control Division (NMCD) to implement a pilot project assessing the feasibility, acceptability and impact of seasonal malaria chemoprevention (SMC) – the first time this intervention has been used in this geography. The project is being implemented in two districts in Karamoja, a region in the north east of Uganda that has experienced the highest malaria prevalence in the country for over a decade.  

SMC is a proven cost-effective intervention in the Sahel region of Africa, capable of preventing up to 75 percent of malaria cases in children under five. It involves the administration of antimalarial medicines to children aged 3-59 months every four weeks during the rainy season, when malaria transmission is highest, with the objective of maintaining the therapeutic concentration of anti-malarial drugs in the blood to protect children from malaria infection.  

View the photos below to learn more about implementing this project in Kotido and Morto districts, Karamoja region. Follow village health team (VHT) members and health workers as they work to protect approximately 70,000 children from malaria, despite the additional challenges resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic.  

Photo credit: Malaria Consortium/ Junior Achia