ArticleThe Pan African medical journal2026
[Impact of introducing a fifth monthly cycle of seasonal malaria chemoprevention among children aged 3 to 59 months: a quasi-experimental difference-in-differences study in the Zinder Region, Niger].
Article in The Pan African medical journal, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The addition of a fifth monthly cycle to seasonal malaria chemoprevention (SMC) has been proposed to extend protection during prolonged transmission seasons in the Sahel. This study evaluated the effect of introducing a fifth SMC cycle on malaria incidence and on the utilization of malaria diagnostic and treatment services in the Takieta health district, Niger. We conducted a quasi-experimental, non-randomized, before-and-after study with a comparison group ("here-elsewhere" design), using routine health data from 19 integrated health centers across two health districts between 2020 and 2023. Nine health centers implemented five monthly SMC cycles (SMC5), while ten continued the standard four-cycle strategy. Data were extracted from the national health information system. A fixed-effects difference-in-differences (DiD) model was applied to estimate the impact of the fifth SMC cycle on malaria incidence, rapid diagnostic test (RDT) utilization, RDT positivity rates, and artemisinin-based combination therapy (ACT) consumption. The introduction of a fifth SMC cycle was associated with a significant reduction in malaria incidence, corresponding to a decrease of 2.44 cases per 1,000 population during the intervention period. This reduction was accompanied by a 2.99% improvement in health service performance and a significant decline in RDT positivity rates (p = 0.003). However, the difference-in-differences coefficients for RDT use (158.59) and ACT use (153.05) were not statistically significant, indicating that SMC5 had no measurable impact on reducing the use of diagnostic tests or antimalarial treatments. The addition of a fifth monthly cycle of seasonal malaria chemoprevention was associated with a reduction in malaria incidence in the study districts during the intervention period. However, no corresponding reduction in RDT or ACT consumption was observed. These findings suggest that extending SMC coverage by one additional month may reduce malaria burden without significantly altering the use of diagnostic or treatment services in health facilities.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.