DOI: 10.5061/dryad.j9kd51cg6
title: Effectiveness of seasonal malaria chemoprevention administered in a mass campaign in the Kedougou region of Senegal in 2016: a Case-control study

description: Context Seasonal malaria chemoprevention (SMC) with
 Sulfadoxine-Pyrimethamine plus Amodiaquine (SPAQ) is a malaria prevention
 strategy recommended since 2012 by the World Health Organization (WHO) for
 children under 5 years of age. In Senegal, the scaling up of the SMC has
 started since 2013 in the south-eastern regions of the country with an
 extension of the target to 10 years old children. The scaling up of SMC
 requires a regular evaluation of the strategy as recommended by the WHO.
 This study was conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of SMC. 
 Methodology  A case-control study was conducted in some villages
 of the health districts of Saraya and Kedougou in the Kedougou region from
 July to December 2016. A "case" was a sick child, aged 3 months
 to 10 years, seen in consultation and with a positive RDT. The
 "control" was a child of the same age group with a negative RDT
 and living in the same compound as the case or in a neighbouring compound.
 Each case was matched with two controls. Exposure to SMC was assessed by
 interviewing the mothers/caretakers and by checking the SMC administration
 card. Results A total of 492 children, including 164 cases and 328
 controls, were recruited for our study. Their mean ages were 5.32 (+/-
 2.15) and 4.44 (+/-2.25) years for the cases and the controls
 respectively. Male children predominated in both cases (55.49%) and
 controls (51.22%) (p=0.18). Net ownership was 85.80% among cases and
 90.85% among controls (p=0.053). The proportion of controls who received
 SMC was higher than that of cases (98.17% vs 85.98%; (p=1.10-7)). The
 protective effectiveness of SMC was 89% (IC 95% =
 84–93%) (OR=0.11). Conclusion  SMC is therefore an
 effective strategy in the control of malaria in children. Case-control
 studies are a good approach for monitoring the efficacy of drugs
 administered during SMC.
description: The purpose and objectives of
 the study were first shared with the health authorities in the region,
 prior to the training of the field staff including community health
 workers (CHWs) and the head nurses for data collection. For each case and
 control, after parental consent was obtained, a questionnaire was
 administered to collect socio-demographic, clinical, and biological data
 and the different measures of prevention used. The case was recruited the
 same day that the one of malaria diagnostic by RDT. The control was to be
 recruited in the same week as the case. 
 A blood sample was also taken
 from each subject included in the study, for a RDT and a thick and a thin
 blood smear. The slides were stained for 15 minutes with a 10% Giemsa
 solution and then read by technicians from two different facilities.
 Parasite density was assessed by counting the number of asexual parasites
 per 200 white blood cells and estimated by the number of parasites per µl
 using the following formula: number of parasites × 8,000/200 assuming a
 WBC count of 8,000 cells/µl. Thick and thin blood smears were considered
 negative after microscopic reading of 100 fields with no parasites
 detected. Their reading was done according to the recommendations of the
 national guidelines for biological diagnosis of malaria in the laboratory
 of Senegal.
description: Microsoft Excel 2019, 16.60
 (22041000) (RRID:SCR_016137)