Seasonal prevention of malaria in African children
29 Jan 2015
WWARN Published Date
A team of scientists, led by the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine and involving researchers in the UK and Africa, propose that medicine taken once a month during the rainy season could protect young children against malaria and prevent tens of thousands of deaths each year in some areas of Africa.
The study, published in Nature Communications, analysed the potential impact of a new malaria control strategy which takes a similar approach to that used to protect travellers going to malaria endemic areas in Africa. Even with moderate levels of coverage, this new approach called seasonal malaria chemoprevention (SMC) could lead to significant public health improvements.