The Power of Prevention: Seasonal Campaigns Shield Kids from Malaria

“The importance of seasonal malaria chemoprevention (SMC) for our communities is undeniable.”

– Daniel Otu, District Supervisor of the Mokolo Health District in Northern Cameroon.

Daniel is one of seven district supervisors in Mokolo who coordinate the delivery of lifesaving antimalarial medicine to children during the rainy season when malaria-carrying mosquitoes flourish. In countries where malaria persists, heavy rainfall creates breeding sites for mosquitoes, which in turn puts many communities at risk – especially children under the age of five who are most susceptible to infection. Many communities lack access to health facilities able to provide malaria diagnosis and treatment services, raising the risk of malaria complications and death.

To prevent malaria and protect communities, the U.S. President’s Malaria Initiative (PMI) supports seasonal malaria chemoprevention (SMC), which involves coordinated campaigns during which health workers administer lifesaving doses of this preventive medicine to children each month throughout the rainy season. 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.

Aissatou Hamadou, a mother of two living in the town of Lagdo in Cameroon, is one of millions of parents striving to protect their children from malaria during the rainy season. Last year her daughter contracted malaria at the start of the rainy season. “We went to the hospital,” Aissatou says, adding that her daughter “needed a blood transfusion because she was anemic.”

“From that day on, I made a resolution to respect the administration of three doses during SMC campaigns… because these medicines are important for the protection of our children against malaria,” Aissatou shared.

Community health workers are critical to the success of the SMC campaigns. Prior to the launch of Cameroon’s SMC campaign in June this year, PMI and the National Malaria Control Program  (NMCP) collaborated to support training for community health workers on best practices and strategies for administering the preventive doses. Mme. Marthe, a health worker who completed the training, said, “I am very happy with the start of this SMC campaign because we already have the distribution materials and medicines available. I am particularly pleased with the quality of the [pre-campaign] training provided by the Area Chief.”

In Niger and Mali, the first monthly round of the campaign cycle kicked off in July 2023. Having experienced firsthand the benefits of antimalarial medicine for her five children during last year’s rainy season in Niger, Kadidja Hammatou welcomed the health workers who arrived in her district this year to administer preventive medicine. Her two-year-old daughter, Halimatou Saadiya Amatou, is now protected through the end of the rainy season, along with her four siblings and countless other children.

“Thanks to the campaign…my children and I are no longer suffering because they are healthy.,” said Kadidja.

SMC campaigns are also valuable to help decrease the burden on health facilities during the rainy season, as Nassirou Seyni has noticed in his village in Niger. In addition to being the head of Guilladjé village’s health facility, Nassirou is the SMC Coordinator in his health area.

“I have witnessed the impact of the campaign on children’s lives,” Nassirou said. “Malaria is the leading cause of admission in our health facility, but thanks to SMC [and the community distributors], the number of children suffering from malaria has dropped dramatically.”

In Mali, PMI supports the NMCP to train health workers and data analysts to work together. To protect 1,000,000+ children from malaria during the 2023 campaign, the NMCP is coordinating educational broadcasts with 22 radio stations to share information about the campaigns and prevention practices. As is said in the national Bamanankan language, bana koumbè ga pissa ni bana fourakeli yé – “prevention is better than a cure.”

Mariam Doumbia has been serving as a community health worker in Mali’s Sélingué village since her community designated her as their representative in 2016. Reflecting on her eight years of working on these lifesaving campaigns, Mariam said, “the significance of SMC cannot be overstated… when the treatment is administered correctly, children are at a lower risk of suffering from malaria.” Mariam encourages parents to ensure their children receive the full 3-day course of medicine during each month of the campaign.

“The benefits of SMC for a family are immeasurable, contributing to the well-being of children and reducing health-related expenses for households,” Mariam emphasized.

For parents like Minata Sidibé, participating in SMC is standard for her household. “Every year my children take part in this distribution of medicines… [and none have] contracted malaria.” To ensure they reach as many children as possible, health workers will often go the extra mile to make adjustments outside household visits to connect with parents while they are working.

“I thank the health workers who go from family-to-family to give these medicines to our children, and they even go to the fields to find us and our children,” said Minata.

Country-led SMC campaigns have proven to be the most effective means to keep children protected, saving millions of lives every year thanks to the sustained commitment and support of Ministries of Health, NMCPs, and the full range of national and local partners who play a part in the planning and implementation of SMC.

Thanks to the generosity of the American people over the last decade, a new generation of African children moves towards a healthier, safer, and brighter future.

PMI Impact Malaria is funded and technically assisted by the U.S. President’s Malaria Initiative (PMI) and is led by Population Services International (PSI) in partnership with Jhpiego, MCD Global Health, and the Malaria Elimination Initiative (MEI) at the University of California, San Francisco.

Cover Photo: A young girl taking antimalarial medicine during the first round of Mali’s 2023 SMC campaign. Photo credit: PMI Impact Malaria in Mali