Strategies for the prevention of malaria

Episodes of malaria in Australian travellers represent failures in preventive medicine. Antimalarial prescribing faults can be reduced by a consistent three point decision-making sequence. The essential components of a preventive strategy are advice on mosquito bite prevention, appropriate prescription of prophylactic or standby treatment drugs and education on recognising symptoms of malaria. Assessing the risk requires detailed knowledge of individual itineraries. Counselling is needed to help the patient make a decision on preventive strategies. (author abstract)