Intermittent Preventive Treatment (IPTi) for the Prevention of Malaria and Anaemia in PNG Infants

In malaria-endemic areas, young children have an especially high risk of malaria morbidity and mortality. Malaria is estimated to cause up to 2 million deaths and 500 million clinical episodes in Africa alone. The bulk of disease in Africa and severe disease and deaths globally is due to P. falciparum. However, P. vivax is also responsible for a substantial disease burden in endemic regions outside Africa, where P. vivax may account for more than half of all malaria cases. Efforts to reduce this unacceptably high disease burden are hampered by the limited availability of affordable interventions. Following the cessation of large-scale vector control in highly endemic areas, malaria control efforts have centred on early diagnosis and treatment of clinical cases and reducing exposure through the use of insecticide-treated nets (ITNs). While ITNs have been shown to significantly reduce the burden of malaria additional effective interventions are urgently needed. Several trials have shown that chemoprophylaxis given to children at weekly or fortnightly intervals reduces morbidity from malaria in a number of different settings and populations. An alternative approach has been to use intermittent preventive therapy (IPT) involving the administration of a full therapeutic dose of antimalarials at regular intervals. This is logistically easier to deliver, and is less costly, and may reduce problems of promoting drug resistance associated with regular chemoprophylaxis. Intermittent administration of sulphadoxine-pyrimethamine (SP) during antenatal clinic visits was shown to be highly effective in reducing malaria and anaemia in pregnant women and improving infant birth weights. IPT in pregnancy (IPTp) is now recommended by WHO for endemic regions of Africa.