Armed Forces: Malaria

Defence understands the importance of ensuring transparency and timeliness in the reporting of research results and recognises the results of this study have been significantly delayed.

The study entitled: Impact of anti-malarial chemoprophylaxis on functional effectiveness of military personnel (713/MODREC/15) was initiated in 2015 by a now-retired Defence Public Health Consultant. Retirement of the lead investigator without appointment of a replacement meant that the data remained unanalysed. Regrettably the delay was compounded by the COVID-19 pandemic, and it was not until 2023 that resources were applied to revisiting the dataset.

A team of public health specialists supported by Defence Statistics undertook a re-analysis of the original dataset. The reanalysis determined that the study had not generated evidence of sufficient certainty to warrant recommendations to change policy or clinical practice around the choice of antimalarial. The relative lack of substantive findings from the reanalysis meant that while the work was reported internally as part of a general review of malaria policy to ensure compliance with earlier House of Commons Defence Committee (HCDC) Direction, peer reviewed publication was not prioritised; however, the findings prompted a further service evaluation which will look to examine malaria in the service population.

This further evaluation is ongoing and based on malaria notifications between January 2016 and January 2026. This work builds on 713/MODREC/15 and aims to provide a more contemporaneous picture of the impact of malaria on UK armed forces and the role of force health protection measures, including malaria chemoprophylaxis.

The intent is to publish both the results of 713/MODREC/15 and this service evaluation in a peer reviewed journal. The department will aim to submit the results of 713/MODREC/15 for publication within the calendar year.