Preventing malaria in international travellers: an evaluation of published English-language guidelines

Kliner, Merav, Poole, Kristina, Sinclair, David and Garner, Paul ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0607-6941 (2014) 'Preventing malaria in international travellers: an evaluation of published English-language guidelines'. BMC Public Health, Vol 14, e1129.

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Abstract

Background

People intending to travel may seek information on malaria prevention from a range of sources. To ensure the best protection, this information needs to be reliable, up-to-date, consistent, and useful to their decision making. This study appraises current international and national guidelines written in English for malaria prevention in travellers, and whether any recommendations conflict.

Methods

We systematically identified national or international English-language guidelines on malaria prevention in travellers to July 2013 using standard and multiple searching methods. We critically appraised guidelines using the AGREE II tool, and report inconsistent recommendations within guidelines.

Results

We identified five sets of English-language guidelines on preventing malaria for travellers. Assessment against AGREE II indicate that all of the guidelines fall short of internationally accepted standards in guideline development: none include a transparent description of methods; only one describes sources of funding or potential conflicts of interest; and only one includes formal presentation of the evidence alongside transparent assessment of the quality of that evidence. There were a number of important discrepancies between guidelines, and some omit information about effectiveness, safety and adverse effects of chemoprophylaxis options.

Conclusions

The methods used for developing guidelines for malaria prevention in travellers lags behind current internationally recognized standards. Healthcare professionals as well as travellers themselves could be better informed if guidelines were more systematic and transparent summaries of the current knowledge on drug interventions in relation to effects, safety, administration and contra-indications.

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information:	The electronic version of this article is the complete one and can be found online at: http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2458/14/1129
Subjects:	WA Public Health > Preventive Medicine > WA 108 Preventive health services. Preventive medicine. Travel Medicine. WC Communicable Diseases > Tropical and Parasitic Diseases > WC 750 Malaria WC Communicable Diseases > Tropical and Parasitic Diseases > WC 765 Prevention and control
Faculty: Department:	Clinical Sciences & International Health > Clinical Sciences Department
Digital Object Identifer (DOI):	https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2458-14-1129
Depositing User:	Christianne Esparza
Date Deposited:	16 Mar 2015 10:37
Last Modified:	06 Sep 2019 10:15
URI:	https://archive.lstmed.ac.uk/id/eprint/5015

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