Impacts of Seasonal Malaria Chemoprevention on Malaria Burden among under Five-Year-Old Children in Borno State, Nigeria

Malaria disproportionately affects all ages with a high burden among children below five years. Thus, control measures are deployed including Seasonal Malaria Chemoprevention (SMC). The present study assessed the impacts of SMC on malaria burden among subjects aged 3–59 months in Borno State, Nigeria. Twenty (20) clusters were randomly selected from accessible 16 Local Government Areas (LGAs) of Borno State, Nigeria, and SMC was deployed in 10 of the clusters by administering a full dose of amodiaquine plus sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine at monthly intervals for 4 months consecutively. Three hundred and ninety-nine children were enrolled in the study. A structured questionnaire was used to obtain demographic and malaria-related data. Thick blood smear, thin blood smear, and capillary sample were collected two weeks after the 4(th) cycle of SMC. The prevalence of malaria and anaemia was determined among the subjects and for the clusters. The proportions of the female (46.4%; 185/399) and male (53.6%; 214/399) subjects were similar (p > 0.05) with subjects aged 24–47 months (35.8%; 143/399) accounting for the highest proportion (p < 0.05). Malaria prevalence was 10.3% (41/399) and was higher among non-SMC subjects (15.9%; 31/195) than among SMC subjects (4.9%; 10/204) (p < 0.05, df = 1, χ(2) = 10.8). Malaria prevalence was higher in non-SMC clusters (80.0%; 8/10) than in SMC clusters (30.0%; 3/10) (p < 0.05, df = 1, χ(2) = 40.5). The mean haematocrit of the 399 subjects was 34.0 ± 5.3% with an anaemia prevalence of 18.1% (72/399). The mean haematocrit was higher among SMC subjects (35.4 ± 5.0% vs. 33.1 ± 4.2%; p < 0.05) while anaemia prevalence was higher among non-SMC subjects (21.5% vs. 14.6%; p < 0.05, df = 1, χ(2) = 2.8). Of the SMC subjects, 4.9% reported adverse drug reactions. SMC is safe and significantly reduced malaria burden among children in Borno State, and thus, the measure could be deployed in the state for effective malaria control.