A total of 14,450 children aged between 3 and 59 months in Kadjebi are set to benefit from a Seasonal Malaria Chemo-prevention (SMC) exercise organized by the Kadjebi District Directorate of the Ghana Health Service.
The SMC exercise is scheduled to take place from June 26 to June 30.
The primary objective of the Seasonal Measles Campaign (SMC) exercise is to reduce the rates of morbidity and mortality among children under the age of five in the district. Mr. Eric Nana Takyi, the District Director of Health Services, shared this information during an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in Kadjebi, located in the Oti Region.
The SMC exercise aims to reduce the morbidity and mortality rates among children under five in the district. Mr. Eric Nana Takyi, the District Director of Health Services, disclosed this to the Ghana News Agency (GNA) during an interview in Kadjebi in the Oti Region.
He stated that the registration target is 90 percent, with a closing target of 95 percent, and that the exercise will be conducted in four rounds: round one in June, round two in July, round three in August, and round four in September, which are considered peak malaria transmission periods.
Nana Takyi said “there was much reduction in malaria mortality during the SMC period as compared to the non-SMC period in the previous year’s”.
“Morbidity among children under five reduced from 32 per cent in 2021 to 22 per cent in 2022” and “no death among the under-five in 2022 as compared to 2021 where one death was recorded”, he said.
The District Director of Health Services emphasized that SMC is a proven intervention to reduce malaria morbidity during rainfall, and the medication is not harmful and provided free of charge.
He urged all parents and caregivers to ensure that their children receive the full three doses for three consecutive days in order to complete the treatment, emphasizing the importance of their participation in the exercise.