Guidelines for pre-referral rectal artesunate implementation at community level

These Guidelines, compiled by UK development organisation Transaid with funding from Medicines for Malaria Venture, provide practical guidance on: the selection of intervention sites; designing and delivering rectal artesunate (RAS) training for Community Health Workers (CHWs); designing community engagement and mobilisation activities to support RAS implementation; designing severe malaria training for front-line health workers; establishing patient transport systems to support rapid referral; addressing household and community barriers and delays to uptake of RAS; designing an effective supportive supervision system for RAS CHWs; monitoring and evaluating RAS implementation at community level; and planning and budgeting for a RAS intervention.

The main audience for the guidelines is Ministry of Health staff, particularly staff of national malaria programmes, programme staff responsible for child health and integrated community case management (iCCM), and provincial and district health teams. The guidelines can also be used by development partners who are working in partnership with Ministries of Health to support the implementation of RAS at community level.