Mokolo District, Far North Region, Cameroon: When the rainy season begins in June, it brings much needed relief after a long dry season. But it often doesn’t last long for some parents who are quickly interrupted by anxiety and sleepless nights. “Each time the rains come, I fear the worst,” says Charlotte Drengalt, a mother of five children, three of whom are under five years of age.
Years ago, Charlotte lost her niece to malaria. Ever since then, she has lived in constant fear that her children might be next. “Malaria interrupts lives because of numerous hospital visits and anxious nights,” said Charlotte. “When [the government] announced the campaign on the radio, I couldn’t wait. On the first day [of the seasonal malaria chemoprevention campaign], I went to the Mouhour Health Center to find out when the community mobilizer would get to our house.”
Seasonal malaria chemoprevention (SMC) campaigns are public health interventions to prevent and treat malaria infection in young children living in the Sahel region of Africa. Health workers administer three doses of antimalarial medication over the course of three days each month for five months during the rainy season, when malaria transmission peaks. In the Far North Region, peak transmission is between June and October. The objective is to maintain therapeutic drug concentrations in the blood throughout the period of greatest malaria risk, a complete transmission season in these regions.
At the health center, Charlotte was informed a community mobilizer would soon visit her home. When they arrived and her children received the antimalarial medication, she finally felt relief. “My children are stronger and healthier, and I sleep peacefully at night during this rainy season,” she said.
Jhpiego works with Cameroon’s Ministry of Public Health and the National Malaria Control Program (NMCP) to support and supervise the implementation of seasonal malaria chemoprevention (SMC) campaigns in the North and Far North Regions of the country to significantly reduce malaria-related morbidity and mortality. Each SMC campaign includes four to five rounds of antimalarial medication—SPAQ (Sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine + Amodiaquine)—distributed to children between 3 months old and 59 months. During the June 2025 session, over 1,300,000 children received antimalarial medication.
This is a team effort. Community mobilizers make door-to-door home visits to administer medication while nurses and doctors are stationed at health centers to provide care for any malaria cases identified by the mobilizers.
“For many seasons, we’ve battled malaria with limited resources, enduring the heartbreaking loss of lives, especially among children under five and pregnant women,” said Jean Galavi Kaoua, a health worker who has worked for 16 years at the Douvangar Integrated Health Center in the Meri Health District of the Far North Region of Cameroon. Before the seasonal malaria chemoprevention campaigns, malaria was the leading cause of consultations at the health facility, particularly among young children. During the rainy season, the workload for health workers would double. Children would arrive with high fevers, convulsions, and, in many tragic cases, severe anemia.
“This was overwhelming and emotionally draining for me and my colleagues, as the rooms were often filled with severe malaria cases,” said Jean Galavi Kaoua. “Many times, children were admitted under trees in the yard. In the past, for every 10 consultations, there would be 7 to 8 severe malaria cases and 85% of the hospital admissions for children under five were due to malaria.”
However, thanks to timely malaria prevention campaigns, significant progress has been made.
“Currently, for every 10 consultations, we see one to two mild malaria cases in children under five years old,” said Jean Galavi Kaoua.
The proportion of severe malaria cases among children under 5 in Jean’s health facility fell from 46% in May 2025 to 19% in June 2025 when the campaign started.
Personally, I feel a great sense of relief and pride,” he said. “The SMC campaign has been a game changer for us–especially collaborating with Cameroon’s Ministry of Public Health. It has reduced the emotional burden of watching children suffer and has restored hope in the community. Parents are now more proactive in ensuring their children receive monthly SMC doses and community involvement has increased.”
Unfortunately, funding cuts in early January 2025 affected the SMC campaigns and there was a lot of uncertainty around their continuation for the 2025 rainy season.
“There was a lot of uncertainty and anxiety when the funding and resources dwindled,” said Dr. Jean Pierre Kidwang, Coordinator for the Regional Technical Group for Malaria in the North Region. “The contribution from our partner Jhpiego through [funding from] GiveWell comes at a critical moment. Protecting more than 1.3 million children from malaria during the rainy season is essential, and this support will significantly reduce malaria-related morbidity and mortality in this age group.”
The 2025 Seasonal Malaria Campaign in the North and Far North Regions of Cameroon has to-date been supported by Jhpiego through funding from GiveWell. More than 12,000 community health workers were trained and equipped to deliver preventive antimalarial medication to approximately 2.2 million children by October 2025. By providing protection during the high-transmission season, the campaign aims to reduce malaria-related illness and death among children under five. In addition to the campaigns, the project aims to strengthen community health systems through training, supervision, and coordination with local health authorities to ensure efficient and effective malaria service delivery.
Solange Shenwe is a Communications and Knowledge Management Officer in Jhpiego’s Cameroon office.
Gladys Tetteh, Senior Technical Director, Malaria, reviewed this story.
