Malaria during pregnancy can cause serious maternal and newborn health issues, especially in women living with HIV. The World Health Organization recommends daily doses of the antibiotic co-trimoxazole to prevent malaria in pregnant women living with HIV residing in areas with high malaria transmission. However, its efficacy in sub–Saharan Africa is threatened because malaria parasites are becoming increasingly resistant to the drug.
A study (IMPROVE-2) led by Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine (LSTM) in partnership with colleagues from the Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI), the Kamuzu University of Health Sciences, and the Malawi University of Science and Technology, published in The Lancet, suggests that the addition of the antimalarial drug dihydroartemisinin–piperaquine to daily co-trimoxazole substantially reduces the risk of malaria in pregnancy.