Evaluation of Seasonal Malaria Chemoprevention in Kita

Seasonal malaria chemoprevention (SMC) is a new strategy recommended by World Health Organization in 2012 for areas of highly seasonal transmission such as the Sahel. Although randomized controlled trials have shown SMC to be highly effective, evidence and experience from routine implementation of SMC has been lacking. For these reasons, we conducted a comprehensive evaluation of the coverage, adherence, and impact of SMC on malaria infection and disease and anemia when delivered through routine programs using existing community health workers in the Kayes region in Mali. Our evaluation used a pre-post design with cross-sectional surveys and abstraction of routine health information system data in an intervention district (Kita) where SMC was implemented through the health system, and a comparison district (Bafoulabe) where SMC was not implemented.