SMC Alliance

Another huge 'thank you' to all of our partners who presented their lessons learned at our annual meeting this year! There are so many important resources and insights, and now they are live on our website for easy reference: https://lnkd.in/gTcFyTAn

Gender equity is fundamental to defeating #malaria and achieving the #SDGs. Women and girls, especially those in malaria-endemic regions, must have equitable access to healthcare, economic opportunities, and decision-making spaces. To defeat malaria, we must #AccelerateAction and ensure women and girls have equal access to treatment and prevention tools. By addressing gender disparities in health access and resource allocation, we can drive sustainable progress toward a malaria-free world. #IWD2025 #EndMalaria

The SMC Alliance group is gathering in Lome, Togo this week to share best practices from the SMC campaigns of its 19 partner countries, including increasing the age range for this intervention, the digitalization of campaigns, and integrating SMC with other health interventions.?? ? Seasonal Malaria Chemoprevention plays a critical role in protecting children under 5 from #malaria in endemic countries where the disease is highly seasonal. Access to this preventive intervention has expanded exponentially in recent years, thanks to #partnerships like the SMC Alliance.?? ? Learn more about this group, its stakeholders and MMV’s involvement on our website: bit.ly/3QtAOl6

We were proud to be part of the SMC Alliance Annual Meeting in #Togo last week.?? ?? Over the insightful four-day event, seasonal malaria chemoprevention (SMC) implementing countries and partners shared best practices and lessons learnt from their #SMC campaigns. Key discussions included the digitalisation of SMC campaigns, their integration with other health interventions, innovations in delivering SMC to hard-to-reach areas, vaccine rollout updates; and much more. We’re excited to support and continue our collective efforts to protect communities from #malaria. Together, we can make a difference! ?? ? #GlobalHealth

Our 2025 annual meeting has come to a close! We thank our partners in Togo for generously hosting the Alliance this year and for their important leadership against #malaria. Thank you as well to all attendees for your dedication and commitment to this partnership and the work we will continue to move forward together ???? Recordings, presentations, and photos will be on the website soon: https://lnkd.in/gn2gvnDF Medicines for Malaria Venture | Malaria Consortium | Population Services International | Catholic Relief Services | The Global Fund | RTI International | Management Sciences for Health | London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, U. of London | GiveWell | Unitaid

??This morning we launched a perennial malaria chemoprevention (PMC) Operational Handbook at the SMC Alliance meeting ?? https://lnkd.in/gWdcxBdy This 1st edition is a collaboration between members of the PMC Community of Practice, Ministries of Health of implementing countries (including malaria and EPI programs), research partners, and the World Health Organization (WHO). The Handbook reviews the latest WHO guidance, policy development and planning, training and supervision, administration of SP for PMC, monitoring progress and impact, and sustainable behavior change. We welcome feedback and additional contributions from implementation experience! If you’d like to add into a 2nd edition, please email Plus Project Director Charlotte Eddis at [email protected] ?? Population Services International | PATH | Malaria Consortium | Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal) | London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, U. of London | Medicines for Malaria Venture | Junior VOUNDI VOUNDI

Overlapping #malaria interventions increases the impact and efficacy of prevention efforts, rather than using any one intervention alone. Today, distinguished guests from the World Health Organization spoke about the importance of overlapping proven, effective tools such as bed nets and the malaria vaccine with SMC campaigns. Implementing countries expanded on this and shared their experiences integrating SMC with such tools and with other health interventions as well, such as malnutrition screening, perennial malaria chemoprevention (PMC), vitamin A supplementation, and integrated community case management (iCCM) activities. There's still one full day of sessions tomorrow, register to join! https://lnkd.in/gHDf4zHb

The 8th annual SMC Alliance meeting is underway in Lomé, Togo! This gathering brings together representatives from?World Health Organization?Global Malaria Programme, Ministries of Health and national malaria programs of implementing countries, partners, academic and research institutions from 26 countries to share results and plan activities on seasonal malaria chemoprevention (SMC) that will protect millions of children from #malaria. As one of the founding members of the SMC Alliance, we continue to support this crucial annual event. On day 1, our team gave updates on the progress of its research and M&E subgroups, while speaking to local media about our #SMC programme in #Togo. We're looking forward to exchanging further insights, celebrating successes and strengthening collaborative efforts to #EndMalaria! ?? Chuks Nnaji | Eoin Cassidy | Christian Rassi | Medicines for Malaria Venture | Catholic Relief Services | London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, U. of London | Population Services International | Plus Project

The greatest impact against #malaria is achieved when a mix of interventions are used together, rather than any one intervention alone. For instance, when bed nets alone are used, there is 45% efficacy against malaria, but that impact jumps to 92% when bed nets + SMC + malaria vaccine are all used. Many countries are already mixing multiple interventions to increase efficacy, but because seasonal vaccination can be resource intensive, many are choosing a hybrid approach with additional chemoprevention efforts. Thanks to Junior VOUNDI VOUNDI for sharing the Unitaid Plus Project supported work happening in Cameroon to implement PMC and the malaria vaccine in 29 districts with perennial transmission via the existing EPI platform, targeting children up to two years of age. World Health Organization | SMC Alliance | Population Services International | PSI Cameroon- Population Services International

We're having a fantastic time at our annual meeting, but don't take our word for it! Read the wonderful stories from Togolaise media and learn more about how 19 countries are implementing SMC to keep their youngest populations safe from #malaria: ?? Heure info ?? https://lnkd.in/gyt32nNR ?? Savoir News ?? https://lnkd.in/gxWwv6qv ?? Togo Top News ?? https://lnkd.in/gxSM3Ydq ?? Togo Scoop ?? https://lnkd.in/ghvePN99 Medicines for Malaria Venture | Population Services International | London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, U. of London | PATH | Malaria Consortium | Management Sciences for Health | RTI International | Université Iba Der THIAM de Thiès | Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine | Catholic Relief Services