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Leveraging the Seasonal Malaria Chemoprevention Platform to Address Malaria and Malnutrition

Not Applicable
Not yet recruiting
Conditions
Malaria Incidence
Seasonal Malaria Chemoprevention
Nutrition Assessment
Acute Malnutrition in Childhood
Acute Malnutrition
Integrated Community-based Intervention Package
Interventions
Dietary Supplement: SQ-LNS
Other: Integrated Nutritional Screening
Registration Number
NCT06599593
Lead Sponsor
University of California, San Francisco
Brief Summary

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.

Detailed Description

Not available

Recruitment & Eligibility

Status
NOT_YET_RECRUITING
Sex
All
Target Recruitment
500
Inclusion Criteria

Not provided

Exclusion Criteria

Not provided

Study & Design

Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Study Design
PARALLEL
Arm && Interventions
GroupInterventionDescription
Nutrition-Intervention-SMC IntegrationSQ-LNSIn conjunction with SMC administration, CHWs screen children for MUAC. CHW refers children with MUAC \<12.5 to the CSPS for MAM/SAM care and to receive all standard nutritional program. CHW provides all children ages 6-24 months who do not have acute malnutrition with SQ-LNS (Enov'nutributter; Nutriset; 20 g/day, approximately 100-120 calories).
Nutrition-Intervention-SMC IntegrationIntegrated Nutritional ScreeningIn conjunction with SMC administration, CHWs screen children for MUAC. CHW refers children with MUAC \<12.5 to the CSPS for MAM/SAM care and to receive all standard nutritional program. CHW provides all children ages 6-24 months who do not have acute malnutrition with SQ-LNS (Enov'nutributter; Nutriset; 20 g/day, approximately 100-120 calories).
Standard of Care Plus SQ-LNS ProvisionSQ-LNSSeparately from SMC administration, CHWs screen children ages 6-59 months for MUAC as part of their routine program. CHW refers children with MUAC \<12.5 to the CSPS for MAM/SAM care and to receive all standard nutritional program. CHW provides all children ages 6-24 months who do not have acute malnutrition with SQ-LNS (Enov'nutributter; Nutriset; 20 g/day, approximately 100-120 calories).
Primary Outcome Measures
NameTimeMethod
Clinical malaria incidence5 months

The primary outcome will be the cumulative incidence of clinical malaria, defined as fever (axillary temperature ≥37.5°C) plus a positive RDT, over the course of one SMC season. The primary outcome will be measured in two ways: active case detection and passive detection. For active surveillance, we will randomly select 25 children aged 6-24 months per community (N=500 total) for weekly monitoring for malaria using an HRP2-based RDT.41 For passive surveillance, we will record all uncomplicated malaria diagnoses at primary healthcare facilities.

Secondary Outcome Measures
NameTimeMethod
Alternative malaria Indicators5 months

For children enrolled in active surveillance across both arms, the team will assess the cumulative incidence of malaria parasitemia by RDT with or without fever, thin/thick smears, and/or via PCR (via dried blood spots).

Severe malaria5 months

Severe malaria will be diagnosed at participating healthcare facilities and defined as vital organ dysfunction and/or hyperparasitemia (\&gt;5% of red blood cells infected by malaria parasites).

Anemia5 months

Anemia will be measured in the active surveillance cohort monthly using the HemoCue Hb 301 system.

All-cause clinic visits.5 months

Primary healthcare data collected via passive surveillance will include all sick child visits during the study period and will include information related to diagnoses and treatments.

Trial Locations

Locations (1)

Centre de Recherche en Sante de Nouna

🇧🇫

Nouna, Burkina Faso

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