Giving antimalarial medicines to children during the rainy season reduces malaria deaths
Giving antimalarial medicines to children monthly during the rainy season cut malaria deaths in children by 42 per cent, making a case for wide implementation in malaria-endemic African regions, a study found.
In 2012, the World Health Organization (WHO) issued guidelines for implementing intermittent monthly drug administration, also known as Seasonal Malaria Chemoprevention (SMC), in areas of high transmission that occurs during particular seasons to help prevent malaria in children under five years old.
Malaria killed 643,000 people globally in 2019 and more than half of these were children under five, with the majority of the deaths occurring in West and Central Africa, according to a press release on the study.
Child malaria deaths ‘slashed by rainy season regimen’
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The intervention cut malaria deaths in children under five by about 42 per cent
The roll-out faces challenges such as finding displaced children, expert says
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