General Overview

The burden of Malaria is heaviest in the children group, as children aged under 5 years account for 78% of all malaria deaths, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO).

The implementation of preventive therapies for children under 5 years and infants had been slower than expected. In 2013, 6 of the 16 countries recommended by WHO to adopt seasonal malaria chemoprevention for children under 5 had done so. Only one country had adopted intermittent preventive treatment for infants. Regardless of remarkable increases in malaria intervention coverage, in 2013, between 56 and 69 million children with malaria were not given an Artemisinin-based Combination Therapy (ACT), which leads to reinfections.

Kay Monroe stated of her experience: You see these little kids- 4 or 5 years old, clearly infected and feeling very uncomfortable. And every clinic gets a manual to see who comes in and who gets released and you see the same kids over and over after a couple of weeks because they keep getting reinfected.

Poverty and low levels of education are noteworthy elements in deficiency of access to these crucial services. More should be done to ensure all those at risk receive suitable preventive measures, diagnostic testing and treatment.

WHO recommends the following interventions for the prevention and treatment of malaria in children:

• Use of long-lasting insecticidal nets (LLINs).
• In areas with highly seasonal transmission, seasonal malaria chemoprevention (SMC) for children aged between 3 and 59 months.
• In areas of moderate-to-high transmission in sub-Saharan Africa, intermittent preventive therapy for infants (IPTi).
• Prompt diagnosis and effective treatment of malaria infections.

Artemisinin derivatives are safe and well tolerated by young children, so the choice of ACT will be determined largely by the safety and tolerability of the partner drug. When injectable treatment cannot be given, artesunate should be administered rectally and the child transferred to a facility for full parenteral treatment. Many other antimalarials lack paediatric formulations, necessitating the division of adult tablets, which can lead to inaccurate dosing. Organisations such as UNICEF and RollBack Malaria are working hand in hand to meet the goals of eradicating malaria a child at a time even though funding remains a problem in all such goals. It is, thus, vital, that antimalarial drugs be made in a much more effective and cheaper way for better overall access by those who need them.