Severe malaria intervention status in Nigeria: workshop meeting report

• Published in: Malaria Journal
• Main Authors: Emmanuel Shekarau, Miriam Uzoanya, Nnenna Ogbulafor, Severe Malaria Working Group
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: BMC 2024
• Subjects: Severe malaria; Pre-referral intervention; Guidelines; Referral system; Nigeria; Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine; RC955-962; Infectious and parasitic diseases; RC109-216; Arctic
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1186/s12936-024-05001-1; https://doaj.org/article/86a7301a73f749a0b518c817332730a6

Abstract Nigeria accounts for 39% of global malaria deaths in children under 5 years of age and the effective management of severe malaria is a health priority. The Annual Nigeria Severe Malaria Stakeholders Workshop, held on the 5–6th of July 2023 in Abuja, Nigeria brought together representatives from 36 States, the Federal Capital Territory, and other key stakeholders to address the management of severe malaria across all levels of the health service. Aims were to provide updates and review progress on severe malaria activities, the burden of disease, commodity logistics management, and pre-referral national policy implementation as well as to disseminate research findings. Two roundtable discussions were conducted to identify the challenges, barriers, and facilitators to the effective management of severe malaria in Nigeria. A key challenge was the limited awareness of updated guidelines and strategic documents among frontline health workers, leading to the misuse of non-recommended medications, like α-β-arteether. Further to this, the need to ensure appropriate treatments during pregnancy and the adoption of the WHO directive on the use of rectal artesunate were highlighted. To address these issues, innovative dissemination channels for guideline awareness were recommended and collaboration with professional organizations to enrich training materials emphasized. Other areas for improvement considered the processes involved in severe malaria management, with insufficient coordination among government agencies, inadequate referral linkages, and inadequate human resources identified as barriers. Recommendations focused on practical measures to minimize wastage of injectable artesunate, enhance data management through scaling up electronic medical records, and strengthen referral systems. The extension of severe malaria surveillance to patients older than 5 years was also proposed. To deliver these changes, actionable plans for sustained recruitment and training are needed, as well as committed advocacy at all ...