Digital Tools Help Mozambique Reach More Kids With Malaria Care

Over 14,500 health workers in Mozambique just proved that smartphones can save lives in one of the world's toughest malaria zones.

A new study published in Oxford Open Digital Health in January 2026 shows how switching from paper to digital tools transformed a massive malaria prevention campaign across 23 districts in Nampula province. The change helped health teams reach more children with life-saving medication while cutting waste and catching problems faster.

Mozambique carries the fifth largest malaria burden of any country in the world. For years, teams delivering seasonal malaria chemoprevention, which gives children antimalarial drugs during peak transmission season, relied on paper forms that created delays and inaccuracies.

In 2024, the national malaria program rolled out a digital platform called SALAMA to support door-to-door delivery. Health workers used it to register households, record medication given to children, log side effects, track medicine supplies, and refer sick children to clinics.

The results came quickly. When the system detected that medicine was being wasted early in the campaign, supervisors responded immediately with targeted training. Waste dropped in the following days.

Digital records also matched independent household surveys more closely than paper records ever did, suggesting the old system had over-reported coverage. Real-time data meant teams could see what was working and adjust on the spot instead of waiting weeks for results.

The Ripple Effect

The success is already spreading. SALAMA first launched in 2023 for mosquito net distribution campaigns and quickly expanded to malaria prevention.

Now a second digital platform called upSCALE is being tested in Zambezia province, where 53 percent of children haven't received their first vaccine dose. Community health workers will use it to find unvaccinated children in remote areas and connect them to immunization services.

The researchers were honest about challenges. Phone batteries died quickly, internet connections failed in remote villages, and some workers needed extra digital literacy support. The lesson: digital tools only work when they're designed for the real conditions frontline workers face.

Maria Rodrigues, Country Director of Malaria Consortium Mozambique, put it simply: digital health can extend the reach of lifesaving interventions, but only with thoughtful evaluation and local adaptation.

The upSCALE platform has matured so much that Mozambique's health system now owns and runs it locally, modeling what sustainable digital health innovation looks like when countries lead their own solutions.