FCTA Targets 961,262 Children for Seasonal Malaria Drugs Second Cycle Coverage

Olawale Ajimotokan in Abuja

The Public Health Department of FCT Administration said it plans to provide the Seasonal Malaria Chemotherapy (SMC) coverage to 961, 262 children in the second cycle of the programmme to reduce the prevalence of the disease in the 62 wards of the six Area Councils of the FCT.

The FCT Programme Manager, Malaria Elimination Programme (MEP), Dr. Dan Gadzama, disclosed this Thursday at a media parley organised by the Public Health Department in conjunction with Malaria Consortium to sensitise the public on the second cycle of the programme during the raining season.

The administration of the SMC will hold across the territory from July 26-29, 2024.

Gadzama said the public health department needed to reach that target to surpass the 945,779 children that were reached in the first cycle last month.

He urged religious leaders in the six Area Councils to let the public know that SMC was a key public health intervention in the treatment of malaria.

He also appealed to parents and communities to have confidence in care givers by granting access to homes and estates and enable the success of the programmme.

He stressed the importance of the chemo-prevention exercise for healthy children from 3 months to 59 months, noting that this effort was being made by the FCT Administration following the feedback received that some residents were denying access to Community Drug Distributors (CDDs), trained to distribute the drugs to households in the six Area Councils of the territory.

The SMC is the administration of Sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine (SP) and Amodiaquine (AQ), also called SPAQ for five months between June and October when malaria transmission is highest

“I am calling on parents and caregivers to avail their children that are aged three to 59 months that are under five years old, to receive these drugs. They are safe and free. From Friday 26th to Monday 29th July 2024, we will be coming to your house, door to door to share these drugs with you,” Gadzama said.

He clarified that SPAQ is administered once a month (one cycle) for five months, culminating to one round of treatment yearly.

Gadzama warned the public against using the drug as an anti-malaria treatment, nor for children above five years old; assuring that the CDDs were trained to educate and help caregivers/parents administer the drugs seamlessly once daily for three days during each cycle.

Also giving insight was the State Project Manager, SMC-FCT, Malaria Consortium, Dr. Olutomi Sodipo.

She said the 66 per cent of the children targeted in the first year of the coverage in 2022 were met while a total of three million children were covered in 2023.

She disclosed that the media parley was a step towards the implementation of SMC intervention in the FCT; saying the media is very critical in projecting the importance of caregivers for access to children to receive the recommended treatments as well as spreading the right message and building trust.