FCT Targets Over 1m Children In 2026 Malaria Prevention Campaign

Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) has launched the 2026 Seasonal Malaria Chemoprevention (SMC) campaign, targeting over one million children under the age of five across the six area councils of the territory.

At the flag-off of the campaign on Monday in Durumi, Abuja, the mandate secretary, Health Services and Environment Secretariat (HSES), Adedolapo Fasawe, said the exercise aims to provide free preventive malaria treatment to 1,015,240 eligible children aged between three and 59 months during the peak malaria transmission season.

Fasawe said the intervention would be implemented through trained Community Drug Distributors who will administer antimalarial medicines door-to-door beginning June 11 and continuing monthly for five cycles until October.

She noted that despite being preventable and curable, malaria remains one of the leading causes of illness and death globally, with Nigeria accounting for about 27 per cent of global malaria cases and nearly 30 per cent of malaria-related deaths worldwide.

“Most of these deaths occur among children under five years of age. Every year, during the rainy season when malaria transmission peaks, thousands of young lives are lost to this preventable disease,” she said.

According to her, Seasonal Malaria Chemoprevention, which involves the administration of Sulfadoxine-Pyrimethamine and Amodiaquine (SPAQ) to healthy children, has been implemented in the FCT since 2022 and has contributed significantly to reducing malaria cases among children.

She revealed that malaria prevalence in the FCT dropped by 58 per cent, from 18.8 per cent in 2021 to 7.9 per cent in 2025, attributing the achievement to sustained collaboration among government agencies, development partners and communities.

Fasawe urged parents and caregivers to ensure that eligible children complete the full three-day treatment course every month throughout the campaign period.

She also appealed to residents of gated estates and communities to grant access to Community Drug Distributors, stressing that the medicines are safe, free and effective in preventing malaria during the high-transmission season.

The Mandate Secretary further encouraged residents to enrol in health insurance schemes to reduce out-of-pocket spending on malaria treatment and other health conditions.

Also speaking, the Technical Specialist for the Philanthropic Funding Seasonal Malaria Chemoprevention Project at Malaria Consortium, Jennifer Chukwumerije, described malaria as a major public health challenge despite decades of progress in control efforts.

She said Nigeria recorded 68.47 million malaria cases in 2024, representing 24.3 per cent of the global burden, while accounting for 38.6 per cent of malaria deaths among children under five.

According to Chukwumerije, about 54 million children in 20 countries currently benefit from SMC, a World Health Organization-recommended intervention designed to protect children during periods of intense malaria transmission.

She noted that nearly one million children in the FCT benefited from the programme through support from philanthropic funding and the Global Fund, adding that the organisation plans to support the territory with insecticide-treated nets this year.

While commending the FCT for the gains recorded since the introduction of SMC in 2022, she called for increased government ownership of the programme and the development of sustainable funding mechanisms to ensure its continuity beyond donor support.

Chukwumerije reaffirmed the organisation’s commitment to supporting malaria elimination efforts in Nigeria and expressed optimism that sustained collaboration would help achieve the goal of a malaria-free FCT and Nigeria.

The campaign is expected to run from June to October 2026, with health officials expressing confidence that the intervention will further reduce malaria infections, hospitalisations and deaths among children in the territory.