Guinea-Bissau

In 2023, Guinea Bissau implemented SMC in four regions (Bafatá, Bolama, Gabú and Tombali) via a mass door-to-door campaign targeting children aged three months to five years from August to November. Coverage ranged from 47% in Bolama to 97% in Tombali.

Throughout the campaign, valuable lessons were learned. These included the importance of involving community leaders in advocacy, making it easier to reach parents and caregivers. Additionally, close monitoring of drug distribution teams ensured that the majority of children received treatment within the program's specified timeframe. Furthermore, the engagement of telecommunications networks and community radio stations was found to be effective in raising awareness.

Actions that helped increase uptake of SMC included radio debates on the campaign, raising awareness among community radio stations in local languages, and videoconferencing during SMC campaigns to facilitate the exchange of experiences between regions.

In certain areas in the Gabú, Tombali, and Bolama health regions, there was difficulty in accessing SMC. Increasing the number of local volunteers would help increase coverage in these areas that are difficult to access. Providing community volunteers with rain protection equipment, medicines, and monitoring tools will also help to improve the implementation of SMC.

Guinea Bissau equally piloted the digitization of SMC. Issues encountered include delays in data synchronization due to poor internet coverage in the country while corrective actions include offline use of the system in areas without internet access, real-time visualization of data, review and revision of data reported during the campaign, and availability of computer-literate supervisors, as well as immediately resolving problems found on the tablets.

In the coming year, the NMP intends to improve upon planning for SMC and the exchange of SMC campaign data in cross-border areas with Senegal and Guinea, as well as extending SMC to older children aged five to ten years.