Using monthly malaria prevention visits to help prevent child malnutrition
Official title: Leveraging the seasonal malaria chemoprevention platform to address malaria and malnutrition
Funded at University of California, San Francisco · NIH-11465099 · Data updated 2026-11-12
This project uses monthly door-to-door malaria medicine deliveries to also provide extra care to young children in the Sahel to try to reduce both malaria and malnutrition.
Quick facts
| Grant type | R21 grant |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | University of California, San Francisco NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (San Francisco, United States) |
| Project start | December 4, 2024 |
| Project end | November 30, 2026 |
| Funding year | 2026 |
| Award (this year) | $28,836 |
| NIH project number | 3R21AI182714-02S1 |
| Project ID | NIH-11465099 on NIH RePORTER |
Who could benefit from this research
✓Could help
Ideal participants are children aged 3–59 months living in SMC-covered areas (for example, communities in Burkina Faso) during the rainy/high-transmission season.
✕Less likely to help
Children older than 59 months, adults, or families living outside SMC-covered regions or outside the seasonal window are unlikely to benefit directly from this project.
What this research studies
During the rainy season in the Sahel, children face higher risks of malaria and malnutrition because mosquito exposure and food shortages overlap. The project will add co-interventions to the existing seasonal malaria chemoprevention (SMC) program, which delivers sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine and amodiaquine door-to-door to children aged 3–59 months. In a pilot trial in places like Burkina Faso, teams will deliver the combined package monthly during the high-transmission season and track child health outcomes such as malaria cases and weight gain. The aim is to learn whether using the SMC delivery system for extra services improves child survival and nutrition more than SMC alone.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, this could lower child malaria cases and improve nutrition during the high-risk rainy season.
How similar studies have gone: Previous research has shown antimalarial treatment can help weight gain in malnourished children, but using SMC as a delivery platform for combined malaria–nutrition interventions is a newer, pilot approach.
Where this research is happening
-
University of California, San Francisco
San Francisco, United States Active
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Oldenburg, Catherine Elizabeth — University of California, San Francisco
- Study coordinator: Oldenburg, Catherine Elizabeth
Related research
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Using monthly malaria pill visits to support children’s nutrition and health
This project adds nutrition and other child-health services to the monthly malaria drug visits for young children in Burkina Faso to help them stay healthier during the rainy season.
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Using malaria prevention methods to also tackle malnutrition in children
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About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page.