Table 1 Components of the intermittent screening and treatment in school children in coastal Kenya

1. Community sensitisation

Sensitization consisted of a meeting with parents and teachers at every school to describe the intervention and answer questions. It occurs once and comprises the set-up costs of the intervention, thus costs are annualized across the five-year programme.

2. Training

A half-day training on the intervention delivery and a refresher of relevant clinical practice is given to all staff at every screening round.

3. Screening day

A mobile health team travels to the school. Children are screened by a laboratory technician using a RDT and those found to be RDT-positive are given milk and bread and the first dose of treatment. The evening dose is given to the child or if the child is too young to take responsibility the parents or older sibling are called.

4. Treatment Follow-up

On days two and three a nurse returns to the school to supervise the morning treatment dose and deliver the evening dose.

5. Monitoring

Supervising health officers join two intervention teams for observation at each round.

6. Administration

This includes coordinator time, office use and the cost of distributing significant extra quantities of RDTs and anti-malarials to district hospitals.