By Albert Futukpor,
Savelugu (N/R), Dec. 14, GNA – The implementation of the Seasonal Malaria Chemoprevention (SMC) has resulted in a reduction in the number of malaria cases recorded amongst children under five years during the peak season in the Savelugu Municipality of the Northern Region.
Mr Mark Ayaba Bugre, Savelugu Municipal Director of Health, who announced this, said “Equally, the number of severe malaria cases that we have been seeing, have reduced and the mortalities have also reduced.”
He was speaking in an interview with the Ghana News Agency at Nakpanzoo in the municipality after visiting the area to observe the actual implementation of the SMC where malaria drugs were being administered to children under five years.
As part of the implementation of the SMC, children under five years are given therapeutic doses of sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine and Amodiaquine in four cycles in June, July, August, September, and October every year to prevent them from getting malaria during that period.
That period, which is the rainy season, is when the country records the highest incidences of malaria, hence the SMC to protect the children against the deadly disease.
Mr Bugre said the implementation of the SMC in the municipality started in 2019, adding “We have seen that from 2019 to date, the periods that we used to have very high incidences of malaria amongst children less than five years, we realise that it has now drastically come down. Before 2019; that is 2017, 2018, those periods; June, July, August, September, October, we saw that the graphs were very high; we recorded high cases of malaria and mortalities. But since we started, we realise that those periods, the graphs have come down; the number of cases and mortalities have come down drastically.”
He added that “So, 2019 in the municipality, we did not record the mortality as result of malaria in children under five, 2020 we did not record mortalities, 2021, we had one case, and we did not record any case in 2022. 2023 so far, we have not recorded any cases of mortality. And we believe that SMC is doing the trick.”
The GNA has learnt that whilst the SMC is doing the trick, inadequate financing has become a major problem facing its implementation.
Resources for the SMC come from the Presidential Malaria Initiative of the United States Government and from the Global Fund.
However, recently, there have been some delays in the release of funds for the implementation of the SMC.
Mr Bugre appealed to authorities and donors to continue to sponsor the SMC, saying members of the community embraced the intervention and there was need to continue its implementation to save children.
GNA