Community case management of malaria in urban settings

The research processes in Ghana, Malawi, Ethiopia and
Burkina Faso shared the following core objectives. The
primary objective was test the feasibility and acceptability
of ACT unit-dose pre-pack for the management of malaria
in children aged 6-59 months in urban areas.
The specific objectives were to:
• assess knowledge, perceptions and practice of household
level preventive and treatment-seeking behaviours
(including those surrounding drug use and costs);
• establish the acceptability of the pre-packed anti-malaria
drugs;
• select and train a network of community medicine
distributors (CMDs)
• develop Information, Education and Communication/
Behaviour Change Communication (IEC/BCC) materials;
• determine the proportion of children treated in
<24 hours with pre-packed drugs made available
through CMDs;
• assess the adequacy of advice provided by CMDs; and
• establish the compliance level by caregivers with the
recommended treatment regimen.
The Bolgatanga (Ghana), Kumasi (Ghana) and Jimma
(Ethiopia) teams included this additional objective:
• field test the use of the malaria rapid diagnostic tool in
the home setting.