Summary
This landmark research led by Siân E Clarke et all is a cluster-randomized impact evaluation in Kenya that explores the impact of intermittent preventive treatment (IPT) for malaria in reducing anaemia, and improving classroom attention and educational achievement among schoolchildren. The results showed that IPT once-termly dramatically reduced malaria parasitaemia, almost halved the rates of anaemia, and significantly improved cognitive ability in schoolchildren. This study provides the first evidence of a detrimental impact of malaria on school performance, through reduced attention in class.
The evaluation was supported by the Gates Malaria Partnership, which is supported by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and by funds from the multi-donor Education Program Development Fund of EFA-FTI, which is managed by the World Bank.
This impact evaluation shows that malaria prevention in schools can dramatically improve the health and cognitive ability of schoolchildren, such that malaria control could be a valuable addition to realizing EFA goals through school health programming in Kenyan and other malaria-endemic African countries. The Government of Kenya in collaboration with other actors in school based malaria control is currently exploring how to implement the IPT approach within the context of the national school health and nutrition program and in the Kenya Education Sector Support Program (KESSP). As a contribution to this, the GoK, the Government of Senegal and the World Bank are supporting parallel impact evaluations in coastal Kenya and sahelian Senegal to assess the external validity of the study findings and investigate further the long term educational gains of IPT in school.
RSS