Anti-Malarial Drugs For Healthy Children Prevented 80% More Infections... - 7 February 2011

Anti-Malarial Drugs For Healthy Children Prevented 80% More Infections Than Bed-Nets Alone In Seasonal Malaria Regions

LONDON; BUKINA FASO, MALI; THE GAMBIA—In three African countries where malaria is seasonal a big research study has shown that 80 per cent more children sleeping under bed-nets were protected from malaria infection when they received short courses of anti-malarial drugs, as compared with those who slept under nets but did not receive active drugs. This suggests that combining two strategies for malaria prevention in children: bed nets and intermittent preventive treatment, could save many lives in regions where malaria is seasonal. Professor Brian Greenwood from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine discusses his group’s findings which add up to important new knowledge to assist the World Health Organisation in it’s quest to reduce malaria deaths around the world.