Artesunate rectal capsules verification report

Between February 2019 and October 2020, Community Health Volunteers (CHVs) trained by the MAMaZ Against Malaria at Scale (MAM@Scale) project identified 3,916 cases of severe malaria among children aged six months to six years old in Serenje and Chitambo districts. All these children were administered artesunate rectal capsules (ARC) and were referred to the health facility for further treatment.

In December 2020 an ARC verification exercise was undertaken to check whether the children who had been administered ARC as a pre-referral intervention at community level went on to be treated at the health facility for severe malaria, and, if so, what treatment they were given. The overarching aim of the exercise was to assess whether both CHVs and health facility staff were following the correct severe malaria protocol.

A similar ARC verification exercise had been undertaken in October 2019 and, prior to that, by the MAMaZ Against Malaria pilot project in Serenje in 2017.