Chemoprevention clinical trials

Seasonal Malaria Chemoprevention Rapid Assessment Study Mozambique

Seasonal malaria chemoprevention (SMC) is a highly effective community-based intervention to prevent malaria infections caused by Plasmodium falciparum in areas where the burden of malaria is high and malaria transmission is seasonal. SMC is commonly seen as a success story in the Sahel region, however, there are regions in east and southern Africa where malaria transmission is seasonal, and the burden is high. However, the same decision-making frameworks that was used in the Sahel are unlikely to be applicable to east and southern Africa due to higher pre-existing resistance to the drugs used, seasonality heterogeneity, contextual difference, and unknown cost-effectiveness, amongst others. This study aims to estimate the chemoprevention efficacy, potential upscale impact, acceptability, and feasibility of SMC with sulfadoxine-pyrimenthamine + amodiaquine (SP+AQ) medicines in Niassa Province in Mozambique. The study is divided into two separate components with different objectives which outputs feed into each other: a non-randomized controlled trial to estimate the chemoprevention efficacy of SP+AQ; and a qualitative study that will evaluate the feasibility and acceptability of the intervention. These will be the first studies analysing the chemoprevention efficacy, feasibility, acceptability, and potential scale-up impact of SMC in Niassa Province, Mozambique The outcomes of these studies aim to guide future policy changes at local, national, and international levels and potentially allow for a historically successful program to expand in a sustained and cost-effective way beyond the Sahel region.