A third (30%) of malaria cases can be avoided in African infants using a safe, affordable and simple tool called Intermittent Preventive Treatment of malaria in Infants (IPTi) with the medicine sulphadoxine-pyrimethamine (SP), which can be delivered alongside existing childhood vaccination programmes. Results of a meta-analysis examining six clinical trials in Africa for the malaria intervention which the World Health Organization already recommends are published online today in the medical journal, The Lancet. Research experts say if IPTi-SP were expanded in other African countries, 6 million cases of malaria could be prevented each year in those most vulnerable to the disease.
"These results confirm the potential for IPTi using SP, which can be easily and rapidly implemented via existing WHO immunisation programmes, saving tens of thousands of lives every year across Africa", commented Dr Pedro Alonso, a principal investigator and head of the Secretariat at the Barcelona Centre for International Health Research, Hospital Clinic, University of Barcelona, Spain. "IPTi provides a valuable addition to efforts to fight malaria and so international policy-makers and heads of national Malaria Control Programmes should consider its immediate adoption and integration into existing programmes," he added.