Prevention strategy in India

Effective and safe interventions for prevention of malaria in pregnancy in India: an assessment of burden of malaria in pregnancy, the efficacy and implementability of a screening strategy and barriers to scaling up interventions.

Project Coordinators:           

Dr Neena Valecha (NIMR, India) and Prof Daniel Chandramohan (LSHTM, UK)

Co-Principal investigators: 

Dr Anupkumar Anvikar (NIMR, India) and Prof Feiko ter Kuile (LSTM, UK)

Co-investigators:

Prof Jayne Webster, Prof Brian Greenwood, Irene Kupfer and Jane Bruce (LSHTM, UK)

Objective

The study aimed to determine the efficacy and implementability of intermittent screening and treatment (IST) compared to passive case detection and management (PCD) on the risk of placental malaria and its consequences.

Study design

A cluster randomized, controlled trial comparing intermittent screening and treatment (IST, intervention arm) to current policy of passive case detection and management (PCD, control arm) on the risk of placental malaria. Women who tested positive for malaria were treated with artesunate- sulphadoxine- pyrimethamine. The trial was conducted in three districts in Jharkhand State, India. A total of 3100 (total 6,200) pregnant women of all parities were enrolled in the trial. A series of sub-studies evaluated the implementability and cost effectiveness of IST with RDTs though antenatal care, compared to passive case detection.

Results and Conclusion

Manuscripts in preparation.