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ABUJA, Nigeria, Dec. 3, 2003 — PSI affiliate Society for Family Health (SFH) has launched KidCare, PSI's first anti-malaria pre-packaged drug (PPD) for children. The product was launched in Abia State in July and Lagos, the commercial capital, in November. The launches signify SFH's entry into malaria programming and the first large-scale distribution of PPD in Nigeria. Sales of the new product are off to a strong start with 47,000 packages sold in the first three months. The Abuja launch was accompanied by SFH's Roll Back Malaria (RBM) communication campaign supporting the Nigerian Federal Ministry of Health's (FMOH) efforts in promoting home-based malaria case management in Nigeria, and was inaugurated by His Royal Highness, Alhaji Bilayamini Othman, the Emir of Dass, Bauchi State. PPD is a pre-dosed and pre-packaged anti-malarial therapy used for correct, immediate and effective home management of uncomplicated malaria among children. The product is color coded by age range and accompanied by an illustrative insert which provides the caregiver with the necessary instructions for appropriate administration of treatment and support care. The primary aim of the product is to ensure that the appropriate dosage for complete cure is purchased for the age group of the sick individual and to improve adherence to the suggested treatment regimen. SFH promotes two pre-packaged kits, the chloroquine (CQ) kit and sulphadoxine/pyrimethamine (SP) kits, each available for two age categories for children below six years. SFH promotes Fansidar (SP) and KidCare (SFH brand CQ) and distributes them through SFH's existing distribution channels. SFH will expand project activities to include intermittent presumptive therapy (IPT) for pregnant women and artemisinin-based combined therapies (ACTS) in 2004. The majority of malaria treatment from the private sector consists of poor quality drugs and treatment. According to a 1999 study, the majority of Nigerian mothers obtain malaria drugs for their children from patent medicine vendors (PMVs), private sector drug vendors with little or no formal training. Approximately 70% of these mothers also seek health advice from the same source. The study also showed that PMV knowledge of appropriate malaria treatment is poor. The result - thirty percent of childhood deaths in Nigeria are due to malaria. SFH, in collaboration with PSI, FMOH, BASICS, Johns Hopkins University/Health Communication Partnership (JHU/HCP) and USAID, launched a project to improve early home-based malaria case management for children under five years of age through increasing awareness and availability of quality anti-malarial PPD at PMVs. SFH is helping to prime the anti-malarial pre-pack market, as well as fill a niche in Nigeria malaria programming by using social marketing techniques to conduct the following activities: 1) distribution of anti-malarial pre-packaged products through private channels (PMVs); 2) pre-packaged product demand creation; and 3) collaboration with other stakeholders to ensure adequate distribution and utilization of pre-packaged products. SFH is working with BASICS and JHU/HCP to identify and train PMVs on home-based malaria case management in project areas. PSI programs currently promote anti-malaria pre-packaged drugs for adults in Cambodia and Myanmar, and PSI/Madagascar plans to launch PPD for children. — Catherine Clarence, PSI/Nigeria
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