Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Bouza (Agenzia Fides) - Seasonal malaria chemoprevention treatment (SMC) has shown extremely promising results in reducing the burden of malaria in young children in the Sahel region of Africa. To reach as many children as possible in remote areas it has been crucial to get the community involved. At the same time, in order to tackle the other main childhood 'killer diseases', MSF is screening children for malnutrition and providing vaccinations.
In the Bouza district in southern Niger, Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders (MSF) is carrying out a chemoprevention programme against seasonal malaria (SMC) and provides preventive treatment to around 735,000 children aged three months to five years.
In the months of July, August and September, the MSF teams provided chemopreventive treatment to some 80,000 children in Chad, over 175,000 in Mali, and more than 480,000 in Niger. Recent studies demonstrate that the preventive method considerably reduces the number of simple and severe cases of malaria, and leads to far fewer children being admitted to hospital with the disease. The involvement of health authorities and community leaders has been fundamental with regards to the success of the SMC program.
Some 23 million children in the Sahel region are at risk of contracting the disease. In the past three years, ministries of health in Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, Nigeria, Senegal, Chad and Togo have all included seasonal malaria chemoprevention in their national programmes to combat malaria. In Chad as well as the preventive treatment against malaria, the NGO has also vaccinated children against polio, diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, hepatitis B and influenza in the population, with the aim of improving children’s health from 6 to 24 months. In 2012, MSF used the SMC for the first time in Chad and Mali, and in 2013 in Niger. (AP) (Agenzia Fides 21/11/2014)
