Review of treatment guidelines for severe malaria

This report presents a review of severe malaria treatment guidelines across 74 countries, drawn from previous reports on injectable and rectal artesunate. The countries covered include all sub-Saharan African nations, malaria-endemic countries in Asia and those receiving injectable artesunate through the Global Fund and the President’s Malaria Initiative (PMI).

The review assessed national guidelines for:

• First-line and alternative treatments for severe malaria
• Pre-referral treatment at health facilities and community level

Where national documents were unavailable, information from the WHO World Malaria Report 2023 was used, though it did not consistently distinguish between facility and community-level pre-referral policies.