In a new publication in the Bulletin of the World Health Organization, researchers from Malawi Liverpool Wellcome Trust and Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine  present regional growth references that can be used to improve age-based dosing regimens of antimalarial drugs.

Drug manufacturers recommend antimalarials to be dosed based on patients’ bodyweight. However, in countries like Malawi antimalarials are often dosed by the age of the patient because of a lack of functioning weighing scales in health centres and clinics and because antimalarials are sold over the counter to caretakers mostly while the sick patient is at home.