PERSPECTIVE article
Front. Trop. Dis.
Sec. Disease Prevention and Control Policy
Volume 6 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fitd.2025.1480907
This article is part of the Research TopicHow School Health and Nutrition Interventions are Reshaping the Global Public Health NarrativeView all 14 articles
Barriers to Uptake and Implementa2on of Malaria Chemopreven2on in School-Aged Children: a stakeholder engagement meeting report
Provisionally accepted
Colette Morlino1
Isabel Byrne1
Jane Achan2
Vito Baraka3
Aissata Barry4
Teun Bousema5Alioune Camara6
Frank Chacky7
R Matthew Chico8Sian E Clarke8Katharine Collins9Seynude Jean-Fortune Dagnon10Ousmane Diallo11
Seydou Doumbia12Jaline Gerardin11Abdallah S Lusasi7Catherine Maiteki-Sebuguzi13,14
Geofrey Makenga15,3
Olugbenga A. Mokuolu16Irene Mwenyango17Jane Nabakooza14Nnenna Ogbulafor18Melissa A Penny19Aboubacar Sadou20Sarah G Staedke21André Marie Tchouatieu22Alfred B Tiono1,23
Mahamoudou Toure24
Jean-Pierre Van geertruyden15Suzanne Van Hulle25
Eve Worrall21
Chris Drakeley26
Lauren M. Cohee21*- 1London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, University of London, London, London, United Kingdom
- 2Malaria Consortium, London, United Kingdom
- 3National Institute of Medical Research (Tanzania), Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
- 4Programme National de Lutte contre le Paludisme, Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso
- 5Department of Medical Microbiology, Radboud University Medical Centre, Nijmegen, Netherlands
- 6National Malaria Control Programme (NMCP), Conakry, Guinea
- 7National Malaria Control Programme, Dodoma, Tanzania
- 8Department of Disease Control, Faculty of Infectious and Tropical Diseases, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, United Kingdom
- 9Open Philanthropy, San Francisco, United States
- 10Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Seattle, Washington, United States
- 11Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, United States
- 12Malaria Research and Training Centre, University of Bamako, Bamako, Mali
- 13Infectious Diseases Research Collaboration, Kampala, Uganda
- 14National Malaria Control Division, Ministry of Health, Kampala, Uganda
- 15University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium
- 16University of Ilorin, Ilorin, Kwara, Nigeria
- 17Ministry of Health (Uganda), Kampala, Uganda
- 18National Malaria Elimination Programme (NMEP), Abuja, Nigeria
- 19Telethon Kids Institute, University of Western Australia, Nedlands, Western Australia, Australia
- 20United States Agency for International Development, President's Malaria Initiative, Dakar, Senegal
- 21Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, Liverpool, United Kingdom
- 22Medicines for Malaria Venture, Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland
- 23Groupe de Recherche Action en Santé (GRAS), Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso
- 24Université des Sciences, des Techniques et des Technologies de Bamako, Bamako, Bamako Capital District, Mali
- 25Catholic Relief Services, Baltimore, Maryland, United States
- 26Department of Infection Biology, Faculty of Infectious and Tropical Diseases, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, United Kingdom
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Malaria is a leading cause of death in school-aged children in sub-Saharan Africa, and nonfatal chronic malaria infections are associated with anaemia, school absence and decreased learning, preventing children from reaching their full potential. Malaria chemoprevention has led to substantial reductions in malaria in younger children in sub-Saharan Africa. In 2022, the WHO updated its recommendations for chemoprevention to older, school-aged children where epidemiologically indicated. To date, there has been limited uptake of these policies which include both extending the age of seasonal malaria chemoprevention in seasonal transmission settings and providing intermittent preventive treatment to school-aged children in perennial transmission settings. In April 2024, a stakeholder meeting was convened in Kigali, Rwanda, to analyse barriers to implementation of malaria chemoprevention targeting school-aged children. Key evidence gaps were identified and needs for coordination and advocacy were highlighted.
Keywords: Malaria, school - aged children, transmission, Education, Chemoprevention
Received: 19 Feb 2025; Accepted: 09 Jun 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Morlino, Byrne, Achan, Baraka, Barry, Bousema, Camara, Chacky, Chico, Clarke, Collins, Dagnon, Diallo, Doumbia, Gerardin, Lusasi, Maiteki-Sebuguzi, Makenga, Mokuolu, Mwenyango, Nabakooza, Ogbulafor, Penny, Sadou, Staedke, Tchouatieu, Tiono, Toure, Van geertruyden, Van Hulle, Worrall, Drakeley and Cohee. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Lauren M. Cohee, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, Liverpool, United Kingdom
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