I Want to be Malaria Free!
Celebrating 10 years of seasonal malaria chemoprevention
No child should die of a mosquito bite. Yet, children under the age of 5 and living in sub-Saharan Africa are at increased risk of dying from malaria, a deadly disease which is transmitted by mosquitoes.
To protect communities from malaria, the U.S. President’s Malaria Initiative (PMI), led by USAID and co-implemented with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), has provided bed nets, testing, and treatment since 2006. But the data were clear in these early years: young children were still dying.
Countries needed a new tool to shift this trend and ensure greater protection for children.
In 2012, the World Health Organization (WHO) approved an intervention where health workers distribute preventive medicine to young children when malaria-carrying mosquitos flourish during the rainy season, which varies by region.
After the data showed it dramatically reduced malaria cases and deaths, countries quickly adopted these campaigns, known as seasonal malaria chemoprevention (SMC), and with support from PMI and its partners, protected 170,000 children in 2012.
This year, the global community celebrates its 10th anniversary of supporting this life-saving treatment.
“Since the start of the campaign, none of my children have had malaria, which was not the case last year! The campaign was really a good initiative for our community. We all mobilized together so that our children won’t get sick. When our kids are healthy it gives us more free time to do other important activities, and our husbands spend less money on medicines.”
-Guando, mother whose children received SMC during the PMI-supported 2012 pilot study in Mali
SMC campaigns have become a core part of efforts to end malaria. During the last decade, PMI supported these life-saving campaigns by helping provide medicines, training and equipping campaign workers, organizing logistics, and collecting and analyzing data.
Last year PMI helped protect about 10 million children by supporting campaigns in nine countries: Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Ghana, Guinea, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, and Senegal. This year, PMI will also begin assisting Côte d’Ivoire.
Thanks to the generosity of the American people over the last decade, a new generation of African children moves towards a healthier, safer, brighter future.
Every rainy season, community health workers work hard to help children get their doses of anti-malaria medication each month. To ensure no eligible child is left behind, they give parents a card and mark their house with chalk to track who received preventive treatment.
“I found the work interesting because it saves lives and fights against an illness that is well known in our village. Malaria has killed children here, our neighbors’ children.”
-Mariame Dalanda Barry, Community Health Worker who distributed SMC in Guinea
FACING CHALLENGES
Despite overwhelming success, the campaigns have faced many challenges. For example, the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted supply chains, thus hurting delivery schedules for personal protective equipment and medicines used for SMC. Even so, PMI ensured that medicine delivery did not impact campaigns.
Community health workers also took extra steps and went door-to-door to avoid crowds, guiding parents on how to give the pills to their child to minimize contact with the health worker. All PMI-supported campaigns adapted and continued to protect 6.5 million children in 2020, despite COVID-19.
INSPIRING INNOVATION
PMI and partners continue to research new ways to reach children with greater speed and ease. PMI supported an innovative smartphone app in Benin that helped health workers record data and work faster. With PMI funding, Cameroon launched a powerful geographic information system (GIS) tracking system to close gaps for hard-to-reach communities by making sure that campaign supplies were delivered to the right place, at the right time, in the right amount, and in the right condition.
Since malaria is not the only health challenge faced by families, PMI and partners have started using popular SMC campaigns to address other health issues.
For instance, PMI supported Guinea’s National Malaria Control Program to combine an SMC campaign with routine childhood vaccination and prenatal care activities. Communities and health workers welcomed these efforts and made sure that SMC coverage did not drop as a result. In Guinea, Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger, health workers integrated malnutrition screening into SMC campaigns.
THE NEXT 10 YEARS
In 2022, the WHO released updated guidelines for SMC. Now, countries outside of the Sahel region, where malaria is endemic and highly seasonal, may consider starting preventive treatment. Countries can also consider making preventive doses available to older children at high risk for malaria. Pilot tests are in progress in Mozambique and Uganda, with initial results showing that the campaigns are safe and successful in these areas.
“PMI is committed to giving every child a chance to thrive. We’re looking forward to bringing this life-saving intervention to more families threatened by malaria.”
- Dr. David Walton, U.S. Global Malaria Coordinator
The first kids to receive preventive medicine are today , between 10–15 years old. Having hopefully survived malaria during the fragile first five years, they are now students, perhaps workers, with families and communities. This is the power of SMC — it gives children back their futures. PMI plans to continue and expand this work over the next decade so that more kids can envision a childhood that is malaria free.
About the Author
Taruni Donti is a Communications and Public Affairs Intern with the U.S. President’s Malaria Initiative (PMI). Led by USAID and co-implemented by the U.S. Centers of Disease Control and Prevention, PMI supports 27 partner country programs and benefits 700 million people yearly in efforts to control and eliminate malaria.
