Malaria is a major cause of morbidity and mortality in early childhood, yet its consequences for health and education during the school-age years remain poorly understood. The researchers examined the effect of intermittent preventive treatment (IPT) in reducing anaemia and improving classroom attention and educational achievement in semi-immune schoolchildren in an area of high perennial transmission.

Children living in areas of high malaria transmission rapidly acquire immunity to malaria in early childhood; by the time they reach school age, the risk of clinical attacks and death has reduced.However, many school-aged children continue to harbour asymptomatic parasitaemia, which can cause anaemia.4 Although
malaria might have an adverse eff ect on cognition and education outcomes, evidence for this has so far been lacking, and the case for school-based malaria control has not been established.