Mass drug administration for malaria: A practical field manual

Mass drug administration for malaria: A practical field manual

Mass drug administration (MDA) consists of the administration of a full therapeutic course of antimalarial medicine, irrespective of the presence of symptoms or infection, to a defined population living in a defined geographical area at approximately the same time and often repeated at intervals.

WHO recommends MDA to:

• interrupt transmission of falciparum malaria in areas approaching elimination,
• reduce the risk for spread of multi-drug resistance in the Greater Mekong subregion,
• contain malaria epidemics, and
• rapidly reduce malaria mortality and morbidity in exceptional complex emergencies.

This manual is intended to provide operational guidance and should be adapted to local circumstances. It provides examples of tools used in malaria MDA operations that may be useful as templates for developing job aids, training and communication materials and data collection forms.