Household costs among patients hospitalized with malaria: evidence from a national survey in Malawi, 2012.

Background: With 71% of Malawians living on < $1.90 a day, high household costs associated with severe malaria are likely a major economic burden for low income families and may constitute an important barrier to care seeking. Nevertheless, few efforts have been made to examine these costs.

Increasing insecticide resistance in Anopheles funestus and Anopheles arabiensis in Malawi, 2011-2015.

Background: Susceptibility of principal Anopheles malaria vectors to common insecticides was monitored over a 5-year period across Malawi to inform and guide the national malaria control programme.

Methods: Adult blood-fed Anopheles spp. and larvae were collected from multiple sites in sixteen districts across the country between 2011 and 2015.

Adherence to national guidelines for the diagnosis and management of severe malaria: a nationwide, cross-sectional survey in Malawi, 2012.

Background: Severe malaria has a case fatality rate of 10-20 %; however, few studies have addressed the quality of severe malaria case management. This study evaluated the diagnostic and treatment practices of malaria patients admitted to inpatient health facilities (HF) in Malawi.

Methods: In July-August 2012, a nationwide, cross-sectional survey of severe malaria management was conducted in 36 HFs selected with equal probability from all eligible public sector HFs in Malawi.

Scale-up of integrated malaria vector control: lessons from Malawi.

Problem: Indoor residual spraying and long-lasting insecticidal nets (LLINs) are key tools for malaria vector control. Malawi has struggled to scale up indoor residual spraying and to improve LLIN coverage and usage.

Approach: In 2002, the Malawian National Malaria Control Programme developed guidelines for insecticide treated net distribution to reach the strategic target of at least 60% coverage of households with an LLIN.

Preventing malaria transmission by indoor residual spraying in Malawi: grappling with the challenge of uncertain sustainability.

Background: In the past decade, there has been rapid scale-up of insecticide-based malaria vector control in the context of integrated vector management (IVM) according to World Health Organization recommendations. Endemic countries have deployed indoor residual spraying (IRS) and long-lasting insecticidal nets as hallmark vector control interventions. This paper discusses the successes and continued challenges and the way forward for the IRS programme in Malawi.

Monitoring the efficacy of artemether-lumefantrine for the treatment of uncomplicated malaria in Malawian children.

Background: The resistance of malaria parasites to sulphadoxine-pyrimethamine (SP) in 2007 led to the Malawi Ministry of Health changing to artemether-lumefantrine (AL) as first-line for uncomplicated malaria treatment. This study determined the efficacy and safety of AL for the treatment of uncomplicated Plasmodium falciparum malaria among six to 59 months old Malawian children.

Methods: This was a prospective study of children six to 59 months old treated with AL after presenting with uncomplicated malaria in the six health facilities in Malawi.

Developing national treatment policy for falciparum malaria in Africa: Malawi experience.

The emergence and spread across sub-Saharan Africa of Plasmodium falciparum resistant to the inexpensive antimalarials chloroquine and sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine has worsened the health and hampered the socio-economic development of affected countries, a situation that calls for urgent review of malaria treatment policies in these countries. The Roll Back Malaria (RBM) initiative promotes strong partnerships for implementing effective malaria control measures. The development of clear policies to guide such implementation at country level offers a way of assessing the achievement of set milestones in this collaborative venture.