By Gabriel Ameh, Abuja
The Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA), through the Health Services and Environment Secretariat (HSES), has officially flagged off the 2026 Seasonal Malaria Chemoprevention (SMC) campaign targeting more than one million eligible children across the six area councils of the Federal Capital Territory.
The flag-off ceremony, held in Abuja on Monday, was coordinated by the Public Health Department and the FCT Malaria Elimination Programme in collaboration with Malaria Consortium, development partners, traditional institutions and other stakeholders in the health sector.
Speaking during the event, the Mandate Secretary of the Health Services and Environment Secretariat (HSES), Dr. Dolapo Fasawe, said the intervention reflects the commitment of the Federal Capital Territory Administration under the leadership of the Minister of the FCT, Barrister Nyesom Wike, to reduce malaria prevalence and improve child healthcare outcomes across the territory.
She explained that Seasonal Malaria Chemoprevention involves the administration of preventive anti-malaria medicines to children aged between three and 59 months during the rainy season when malaria transmission is highest.
“What it means is that we can prevent malaria by taking this medicine. The medicines are preventive and not for treatment. We will administer them to children from three months to just below five years old,” she said.
Fasawe noted that the 2026 SMC campaign, which is being implemented through the Public Health Department and the FCT Malaria Elimination Programme, will commence on Thursday, June 11, 2026, with trained community drug distributors expected to move from door to door to administer the medicines free of charge.
According to her, over 1,015,240 eligible children are expected to benefit from the intervention across all six area councils of the FCT.
“We are targeting over one million eligible recipients. If we continue these interventions consistently year after year, malaria will soon become a thing of the past in the FCT,” she stated.
Earlier in her remarks, Dr. Jennifer Chukwumerije, Technical Specialist for the Philanthropic Funding Seasonal Malaria Chemoprevention (PF-SMC) Project at Malaria Consortium Nigeria, described malaria as one of the world’s biggest public health challenges despite being preventable and treatable.
She stated that Nigeria currently bears the highest malaria burden globally, recording about 68.47 million malaria cases in 2024, representing 24.3 percent of all global cases.
According to her, children under five years and pregnant women remain the most vulnerable groups affected by the disease.
“Malaria claims an estimated one life every minute globally, with the majority of deaths occurring in sub-Saharan Africa. There is no better time than now for all stakeholders to recommit to ending malaria,” she said.
Chukwumerije commended the FCTA, HSES, the Public Health Department and the FCT Malaria Elimination Programme for their sustained commitment toward malaria control and elimination efforts in the territory.
She explained that SMC is a World Health Organization-recommended intervention involving the monthly administration of Sulphadoxine-Pyrimethamine and Amodiaquine (SPAQ) to healthy children during the peak malaria transmission period.
She disclosed that nearly one million children in the FCT benefited from SMC interventions through support from philanthropic funding and the Global Fund, adding that the programme has been implemented in the territory since 2022.
“This year, SMC aims to target 1,015,240 eligible children in the FCT. Malaria Consortium also plans to support the territory with insecticide-treated nets,” she stated.
She further revealed that malaria prevalence in the FCT reduced significantly from 18.8 percent in 2021 to 7.9 percent in 2025 due to collaborative interventions by government and partners.
Health officials at the event also clarified that SPAQ, the combination of Sulphadoxine-Pyrimethamine and Amodiaquine administered during the campaign, has been certified safe by the World Health Organization and Nigeria’s Federal Ministry of Health, with side effects considered rare.
Traditional rulers, Area Council representatives, the Abuja Municipal Area Council Chairman and public health stakeholders pledged continued support toward the successful implementation of the campaign across the FCT.
The campaign is expected to reduce malaria-related hospital visits, ease financial burdens on families and strengthen efforts toward achieving a malaria-free Federal Capital Territory.
