Leveraging the Seasonal Malaria Chemoprevention Platform to Address Malaria and Malnutrition

In the Sahel, the malaria and malnutrition seasons overlap during the rainy season, from approximately July through October. Malaria transmission increases due to the rain and collection of standing water and malnutrition risk increases because this period is the growing season, leading up to the annual harvest in November. Seasonal malaria chemoprevention (SMC) is an antimalarial intervention that involves monthly distribution of sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine (SP) and amodiaquine (AQ) to children aged 3-59 months during the high malaria transmission season. SMC is distributed to millions of children annually in 13 countries in the Sahel, including Burkina Faso. Although SMC distribution is highly effective against clinical malaria in children, malaria remains a major cause of childhood mortality and morbidity in Burkina Faso. The SMC platform, which involves monthly door-to-door delivery of SP-AQ, is an attractive platform for delivery of additional interventions that may augment child health during this vulnerable season. Malaria and malnutrition co-occur in children and communities, and interventions for one may affect the other. For example, previous work by our group and others has shown that antimalarial treatments may improve weight gain in children with malnutrition. Here, we propose a pilot trial designed to evaluate how the SMC platform may be leveraged to deliver co-interventions with SMC that may augment its efficacy and reduce the incidence of malaria and malnutrition. We anticipate that the results of this study will provide formative data for the development and implementation of a full-scale study evaluating the effects of integration of nutritional interventions on the SMC platform. We anticipate that such a strategy may provide optimal protection for children during the most vulnerable period of the year by delivering interventions monthly on an existing platform that directly reaches millions of children each month.