The Kwara Government has commenced the administration of house-to-house Seasonal Malaria Chemoprevention (SMC) to children between the age of three months and 59 months.
The SMC is the intermittent administration of full treatment of an anti-malarial medicine during the malaria season to prevent malarial illness.
This is with the objective of maintaining therapeutic drug concentrations in the blood throughout the period of greatest malarial risk.
Inaugurating the SMC, Mrs Olufolake AbdulRazaq, the wife of the Kwara governor, explained that the campaign is a significant step towards the reduction of malaria amongst the children in the state.
She stated that the support of the government and the National Malaria Elimination Program (NMEP) and SMC has the potential to save lives and improve the health of children in the state.
Dr Abubakar Ayinla, the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Health, explained that government was committed to reducing the burden of malaria in the state.
He described the SMC as an important intervention that can help to achieve this goal.
According to him, the malaria drugs are free and they do not cure malaria, but they prevent the disease.
“It doesn’t work alone; we have to ensure that our children also sleep inside the net. Our environment should be clean without mosquito breeding sites,” he said.
Ayinla said the mass distribution of malaria preventive drugs in the state had significantly reduced malaria cases in children between three to 59 months in the state to the barest minimum.
According to him, the state government would continue to strengthen routine healthcare services to improve the health of women and children through various healthcare initiatives.
“This initiative is consistent with the global malaria strategy, which aims to reduce global malaria incidence and mortality rates by 90 per cent by 2030,” he said.
Ayinla urged parents and caregivers to bring their children to the nearest health facility to receive the SMC drugs, adding that the drugs are free of charge.
He explained further that the 2023 SMC campaign would be implemented by Community Directed Distributors (CDDs), who are community members trained to deliver SMC drugs to children.
Hajia Nimata Raji, the Program Manager in the state, explained that only 11 local governments would benefit in the first phase of the program, while the remaining five local government programs are in the pipeline.
“We hope that at the end of this program, our state will be free of any kind of malaria that causes the death of children especially five years old and below,” she said.
In his remarks, Alhaji Mohammed Usman, the Magaji Olowo’s Fada, commended the government for making healthcare delivery efficient and available in the state.
NAN reports that the launching took place at the Magaji Olowo’s Fada, Centre Igboro Area in Ilorin South Local Government Area of Kwara.
