In Malaria World this week there is an article ‘Exploring the prevalence and association between nutritional status and asymptomatic malaria in Rwanda among under-5 children: a cross-sectional analysis’ by Uwimana et al describes the association between malaria and malnutrition.
Data from three Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) conducted in Rwanda in 2010, 2014–15, and 2019–20 were used in the study, including children aged 6 to 59 months and confirmed malaria diagnoses via blood smear. Asymptomatic malaria was found to be present in 1.3% of the population. The results indicate that malaria was more frequent in children with stunting. Underweight children were also found to have an increased prevalence of malaria. Children from the richest families were found to be protected from malaria in all 3 DHS.