The deadline to submit a proposal is 4 November 2024

A child that goes to hospital with severe anemia is five times more likely to die after leaving than a child without anemia. Providing three months of an antimalarial medicine has shown to reduce this risk by more than 75% but uptake of this potentially transformative intervention is limited, and questions about how to optimize delivery of this strategy remain.

Children under 5 are the most vulnerable to malaria, accounting for 76% of all malaria deaths in 2022. Malaria is also a leading cause of childhood anemia, which, in severe cases, can negatively affect mental, motor, and cognitive development. Anemia may cause up to 30% of all childhood hospital admissions, and 6% of in-hospital deaths.

Post-discharge malaria chemoprevention is a three-month course of antimalarial drugs given to children after hospitalization for severe anemia. In 2022, the World Health Organization recommended this strategy in areas where malaria prevalence is above 10% but it has not been widely implemented.

To accelerate adoption and scale-up of post-discharge malaria chemoprevention in areas with high burdens of malaria, Unitaid is soliciting proposals for projects that accelerate uptake of the intervention, while responding to the research needs identified by WHO and country implementers. These include investigations into the optimal duration of the intervention in different settings, the risk factors that lead to adverse outcomes for children following hospital discharge, methods to achieve adherence at-scale, optimal coordination mechanisms, and long-term impact and effectiveness in different risk groups.

Find out more about this call for proposals and how to apply here.