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Credit: Nina Matthews
Pregnant women are at risk of being undertreated or inappropriately treated for malaria, a new study suggests.
The research showed that some pregnant women with symptoms of malaria did not seek care from their formal healthcare system.
Those who did seek care sometimes received inappropriate treatment because healthcare providers did not to adhere to standard diagnostic and treatment guidelines recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO).
Jenny Hill, of the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine in the UK, and her colleagues reported these discoveries in PLOS Medicine.
The team reviewed 37 studies investigating pregnant women’s access to malaria treatment and healthcare provider practices for managing malaria during pregnancy. The studies were conducted in Africa (30), Asia (4), Brazil (2), and Yemen (1).
Twenty-five percent to 75% of the women studied reported malaria episodes during pregnancy. More than 85% of women who reported a malaria episode during pregnancy sought some form of treatment, though this included self-treatment, herbal remedies, and other options not recommended by WHO.
Barriers to WHO-approved treatment included poor knowledge of drug safety, prohibitive costs, and self-treatment practices. Factors that determined whether a woman sought professional treatment included education, previous miscarriage, and prior use of antenatal care.
Other barriers to appropriate malaria treatment included healthcare providers’ reliance on a clinical diagnosis of malaria and poor adherence to treatment policy.
Seventy-two percent of healthcare providers followed standard treatment guidelines for malaria during a patient’s second or third trimester, but only 28% of providers followed the guidelines for patients in their first trimester (P=0.02).
Healthcare providers’ prescribing practices were driven by concerns about drug safety, patient preference, drug availability, and cost. Other factors that determined provider practices included access to training and the type of healthcare facility (public vs private).
Hill and her colleagues noted that this research is limited by the sparseness of data and the inconsistencies in study methodologies. Nevertheless, these findings highlight the need to develop interventions to improve access to and delivery of appropriate malaria treatment in pregnant women. 
Credit: Nina Matthews
Pregnant women are at risk of being undertreated or inappropriately treated for malaria, a new study suggests.
The research showed that some pregnant women with symptoms of malaria did not seek care from their formal healthcare system.
Those who did seek care sometimes received inappropriate treatment because healthcare providers did not to adhere to standard diagnostic and treatment guidelines recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO).
Jenny Hill, of the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine in the UK, and her colleagues reported these discoveries in PLOS Medicine.
The team reviewed 37 studies investigating pregnant women’s access to malaria treatment and healthcare provider practices for managing malaria during pregnancy. The studies were conducted in Africa (30), Asia (4), Brazil (2), and Yemen (1).
Twenty-five percent to 75% of the women studied reported malaria episodes during pregnancy. More than 85% of women who reported a malaria episode during pregnancy sought some form of treatment, though this included self-treatment, herbal remedies, and other options not recommended by WHO.
Barriers to WHO-approved treatment included poor knowledge of drug safety, prohibitive costs, and self-treatment practices. Factors that determined whether a woman sought professional treatment included education, previous miscarriage, and prior use of antenatal care.
Other barriers to appropriate malaria treatment included healthcare providers’ reliance on a clinical diagnosis of malaria and poor adherence to treatment policy.
Seventy-two percent of healthcare providers followed standard treatment guidelines for malaria during a patient’s second or third trimester, but only 28% of providers followed the guidelines for patients in their first trimester (P=0.02).
Healthcare providers’ prescribing practices were driven by concerns about drug safety, patient preference, drug availability, and cost. Other factors that determined provider practices included access to training and the type of healthcare facility (public vs private).
Hill and her colleagues noted that this research is limited by the sparseness of data and the inconsistencies in study methodologies. Nevertheless, these findings highlight the need to develop interventions to improve access to and delivery of appropriate malaria treatment in pregnant women.
Credit: Nina Matthews
Pregnant women are at risk of being undertreated or inappropriately treated for malaria, a new study suggests.
The research showed that some pregnant women with symptoms of malaria did not seek care from their formal healthcare system.
Those who did seek care sometimes received inappropriate treatment because healthcare providers did not to adhere to standard diagnostic and treatment guidelines recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO).
Jenny Hill, of the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine in the UK, and her colleagues reported these discoveries in PLOS Medicine.
The team reviewed 37 studies investigating pregnant women’s access to malaria treatment and healthcare provider practices for managing malaria during pregnancy. The studies were conducted in Africa (30), Asia (4), Brazil (2), and Yemen (1).
Twenty-five percent to 75% of the women studied reported malaria episodes during pregnancy. More than 85% of women who reported a malaria episode during pregnancy sought some form of treatment, though this included self-treatment, herbal remedies, and other options not recommended by WHO.
Barriers to WHO-approved treatment included poor knowledge of drug safety, prohibitive costs, and self-treatment practices. Factors that determined whether a woman sought professional treatment included education, previous miscarriage, and prior use of antenatal care.
Other barriers to appropriate malaria treatment included healthcare providers’ reliance on a clinical diagnosis of malaria and poor adherence to treatment policy.
Seventy-two percent of healthcare providers followed standard treatment guidelines for malaria during a patient’s second or third trimester, but only 28% of providers followed the guidelines for patients in their first trimester (P=0.02).
Healthcare providers’ prescribing practices were driven by concerns about drug safety, patient preference, drug availability, and cost. Other factors that determined provider practices included access to training and the type of healthcare facility (public vs private).
Hill and her colleagues noted that this research is limited by the sparseness of data and the inconsistencies in study methodologies. Nevertheless, these findings highlight the need to develop interventions to improve access to and delivery of appropriate malaria treatment in pregnant women.