School-based Programme of Malaria Diagnosis and Treatment in Southern Malawi
Status:
Completed
Trial end date:
2015-03-01
Target enrollment:
Participant gender:
Summary
Malaria is an important contributor to ill-health experienced by school-children and may have
profound consequences for their learning and educational achievement, and there is a small,
but growing, body of evidence that suggests malaria control can help improve educational
outcomes. In Malawi, school-aged children are estimated to experience 0.59 clinical attacks
of malaria each year, equivalent to 2.1 million attacks among Malawian school-aged children.
To avert this health burden and potential education consequences, Save the Children in
partnership with the Malawian Ministry of Health is providing treatment of symptomatic
malaria cases in schools in southern Malawi, as part of the provision of first aid kits
(known as Learner Treatment Kits, LTKs) in schools. To evaluate the impact of this
intervention, a cluster randomised trial is being conducted among 58 schools in Traditional
Area Chikowi in Malawi, over 12 months. Twenty nine schools are randomly selected to receive
LTKs, which include malaria rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs) and artemisinin-based combination
therapies (ACTs) to treat uncomplicated malaria, and 29 schools serve as the control group.
The primary outcome is school attendance, with secondary outcomes of grade repetition, school
drop-out and enrolment as well as morbidity, Plasmodium falciparum infection and anaemia. The
study aims to conduct several quantitative and qualitative assessments to help evaluate the
external validity of the findings.
Phase:
N/A
Details
Lead Sponsor:
London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
Collaborator:
Save the Children
Treatments:
Artemether Artemether-lumefantrine combination Artemether, Lumefantrine Drug Combination Artemisinin Artemisinins Lumefantrine