Big impacts seen in Ghana with use of preventive malaria treatment in pregnancy
2020
Dr Keziah L. Malm
To protect pregnant women and their unborn babies from malaria, the World Health Organization recommends a package of interventions that includes the administration of IPTp-SP (intermittent preventive treatment in pregnancy with sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine).
1 In malaria-endemic areas in Africa, all eligible pregnant women should receive at least 3 doses of quality-assured SP as part of antenatal care.
2 IPTp-SP reduces maternal anaemia, neonatal mortality, and low birthweight,
3 but uptake has remained low in many countries in sub-Saharan Africa.
4 In 2020, the RBM Partnership’s Malaria in Pregnancy working group launched an urgent appeal to African leaders to expand coverage of IPTp-SP. To mark Universal Health Coverage Day, MMV caught up with Keziah L. Malm about how Ghana has scaled up this lifesaving intervention.