Planned country projects

OPT-SMC Guinea Bissau project: Strengthening health management information systems to assess the impact of SMC in three regions in Guinea Bissau

Guinea Bissau has been implementing SMC in four regions (Bafata, Bolama, Gabu and Tombali) since 2016. DHIS2 is a global public health information management system, developed by the HISP Centre at University of Oslo. Although Guinea-Bissau has been using the DHIS2 system since 2015, there is a need to improve the implementation of this data collection system for malaria, including operationalization of the SMC dashboard, and augment capacity to access and handle data resulting from DHIS2.

The OPT-SMC project in Guinea Bissau aims to evaluate the impact of SMC by strengthening capacity in the use of DHIS2 to evaluate routinely collected programmatic data in Guinea-Bissau. This study will use retrospective data collected using the DHIS2 platform to assess the impact of SMC given in three regions (Bafata, Gabu and Tombali) on children aged 0-59 months. The project will start in 2024.

OPT-SMC Chad project: Study of factors influencing SMC implementation in nomadic population in the Baro district, Guera Provincial Health Delegation, a mixed approach.

SMC is being implemented in Chad since 2015. SMC rounds last four months, between July and October, corresponding to the rainy season, the period of highest malaria transmission. It targets children aged 3 to 59 months. A door-to-door delivery approach is used, where community distributors (CDs) administered the first monthly dose of SP and AQ under directly observed therapy (DOT) and day 2 and 3 doses of AQ are administered by caregivers. During the rainy season, nomadic populations move to access good grass for their herds across the country and nomadic children may not benefit from the four SMC cycles because of their mobility.

OPT-SMC team is working with the Chad NMP, in collaboration with Malaria Consortium, to develop a project on how to improve delivery and quality of SMC to nomadic groups.

OPT-SMC Benin project: Monitoring effectiveness of SMC in northern Benin during the 2020 & 2021 campaigns using a case-control study

SMC has been implemented in Benin since 2019 and currently covers six health districts in the north of the country. Campaigns start in June or July, depending on the region, and end in September or October, for a total of four SMC cycles, targeting children aged between 3 and 59 months. Since 2020, SMC campaigns have been digitized in Benin.

The OPT-SMC team are working with the national malaria programme to evaluate the effectiveness of SMC in Northern Benin using a case control approach. Data have been collected and are being reviewed and analysed.