A single infectious bite with vivax malaria can cause multiple malaria episodes through dormant liver parasites. Radical cure is needed to clear these liver parasites, but the drug can cause haemolysis in individuals with glucose-6-phosphate-dehydrogenase (G6PD) deficiency. Up until recently, options for point-of-care tests for G6PD deficiency have been limited. We have developed decision analytic models to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of vivax malaria patient management, including G6PD screening strategies and radical cure regimens. See our online tools on the cost-effectiveness of screening before primaquine treatment (https://malaria.shinyapps.io/g6pd_screening/) and the cost-effectiveness of radical cure strategies (http://lab.qmalaria.org/shiny/TFQApp/). We have estimated the global economic costs of vivax malaria treatment and developed an online tool to explore total costs at the country app (http://lab.qmalaria.org/shiny/appPVcost/). The economic impact of implementing widespread radical cure to patients after G6PD testing can also be explored with the online tool.
Selected publications:
- Using G6PD tests to enable the safe treatment of Plasmodium vivax infections with primaquine on the Thailand-Myanmar border: A cost-effectiveness analysis
- Cost-Effectiveness Analysis of Sex-Stratified Plasmodium vivax Treatment Strategies Using Available G6PD Diagnostics to Accelerate Access to Radical Cure
- Global economic costs due to vivax malaria and the potential impact of its radical cure: A modelling study