Review of intermittent preventive treatment for malaria in infants and children

Malaria is one of the greatest killers of children in the world. Treatment is available, but there are problems with affordability, availability, accessibility and increasing drug resistance. A new regime, intermittent preventive treatment in infants (IPTi) shows promise. It involves giving a treatment course of antimalarial drugs, regardless of parasitaemia, at intervals over the first year of life. The aim is to decrease the frequency of malarial illness while allowing the development of natural immunity. Its strength is that it can be linked with the childhood immunisation schedule. Early studies are encouraging, but much remains to be learned before its potential place in the prevention of malaria in children can be determined and it can safely be introduced as public policy. A review of the literature was performed in July 2006 for references relating to IPTi and other forms of personal prevention of malaria in infants and children.