Intermittent Parasite Clearance (IPC) in Schools: Impact on Malaria, Anaemia and Cognition

Not Applicable

Completed

• Conditions: Malaria; Anaemia
• Interventions: Drug: Intermittent parasite clearance; Other: Placebo

• Registration Number: NCT01454752
• Lead Sponsor: London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine

Brief Summary

Although the risk of malaria is greatest in early childhood, significant numbers of schoolchildren remain at risk from malaria infection, clinical illness and death. By the time they reach school, many children have already acquired some clinical immunity and the ability to limit parasite growth, and thus most infections are asymptomatic and will go undetected and untreated. Asymptomatic parasitaemia contributes to anaemia, reducing concentration and learning in the classroom, and interventions aiming to reduce asymptomatic parasite carriage may bring education, as well as health, benefits.

Intermittent parasite clearance (IPC) delivered through schools is a simple intervention, which can be readily integrated into broader school health programmes, and may usefully supplement the community-distribution of insecticide-treated nets (ITNs) in countries with a policy of universal coverage of nets.

This study seeks to establish whether intermittent parasite clearance undertaken once a year at the end of the malaria transmission season can reduce malaria parasite carriage and anaemia amongst school-going children already using insecticide-treated nets, and its consequent impact on school attendance and performance, in order to assess its suitability for inclusion as a standard intervention in school health programmes in areas of seasonal malaria transmission.

Detailed Description

Not available

Study Timeline

• Study First Submitted: 2011-10-12
• Study First Submitted QC: 2011-10-17
• Study First Posted: 2011-10-19
• Study Start: 2011-11
• Primary Completion: 2012-02
• Study Completion: 2012-02
• Status Verified: 2012-04
• Last Update Submitted: 2012-04-18
• Last Update Posted: 2012-04-19

Recruitment & Eligibility

• Status: COMPLETED
• Sex: All
• Target Recruitment: 860

Inclusion Criteria

• enrolled in participating elementary schooled
• provision of parental consent

Exclusion Criteria

• lack of consent
• chronic conditions which limit regular school attendance
• clinical malaria on the day of scheduled treatment (as defined as febrile, with a positive result in a rapid diagnostic test for malaria).

Study & Design

• Study Type: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Design: PARALLEL

Arm && Interventions

Group	Intervention	Description
Intermittent parasite clearance	Intermittent parasite clearance	Children sleeping under a long-lasting insecticidal net (LLIN) receive an additional intermittent preventive treatment for clearance of asymptomatic malaria infection given once a year at the end of the malaria transmission season
Control	Placebo	Children sleeping under a long-lasting insecticidal net (LLIN) receive placebo

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Prevalence of malaria parasitaemia	8 weeks after treatment (February 2012)
Prevalence of anaemia (Haemoglobin<11 g/dL)	8 weeks after treatment (February 2012)

Secondary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Cognitive performance in tests of sustained attention	8 weeks after treatment (February 2012)

Trial Locations

Locations (1)

Institut de Recherche pour le Developpement; 🇸🇳 Dakar, Senegal