While malaria outcomes are improving for pregnant women and children under five, malaria infection rates in Burkina Faso are rising, with 27 per cent of cases occurring in children aged 5-14 years. This age group has not previously been the target of malaria control interventions. However, a new project is exploring the use of innovative approaches to malaria prevention in order to reduce the malaria burden in school-aged children.
Following new World Health Organization recommendations on the use of intermittent preventive treatment of malaria in school-aged children (IPTsc) in settings with moderate-to-high seasonal transmission, this project will help to inform country-level guidance around the implementation of IPTsc and the choice of antimalarial medicines. Malaria Consortium’s new study seeks to address existing gaps and provide the evidence needed to inform IPTsc implementation — i.e. which antimalarials are most effective, and when to administer medicines considering transmission dynamics — and distribution, informed by feasibility and acceptability studies.
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