Optimizing seasonal malaria chemoprevention (SMC) implementation

Where malaria transmission is seasonal, notably in Africa’s Sahel region, children of all ages most at risk of severe malaria are protected through SMC. This intervention consists of full antimalarial treatment courses of sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine and amodiaquine (SPAQ), administered monthly (28 days) during the high-transmission period (typically the rainy season), generally for up to five months per year. SMC can be deployed relatively easily across a large population and is highly cost-effective at only USD $0.30-0.40/dose,3 making it an important tool for malaria control