COVID-19 Impact on Malaria Control Strategies
Summary
The COVID-19 pandemic exerted profound pressure on global malaria control efforts by diverting financial and human resources, disrupting supply chains and impeding routine prevention and treatment services. Lockdowns and curfews limited community access to insecticide-treated nets and indoor residual spraying campaigns, while fear of SARS-CoV-2 exposure reduced attendance at health centres for diagnosis and antimalarial treatment. Supply-chain interruptions led to shortages of rapid diagnostic tests and antimalarial drugs, compounding risks of drug resistance and diagnostic delays. Geospatial modelling has warned of sharp increases in malaria cases and deaths if disruptions persisted. In response, practitioners have adapted delivery models, integrated malaria activities within COVID-19 responses, employed digital planning tools and strengthened risk communication to maintain essential services. These adaptations underscore the need for resilient, context-specific strategies to safeguard malaria gains and inform preparedness for future public health emergencies.
Research from Nature Portfolio
No recent Nature Portfolio content available.
COVID-19 Impact on Malaria Control Strategies publication trend
The graph below shows the total number of articles in covid-19 impact on malaria control strategies across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).
Technical terms
Mass drug administration (MDA): distribution of antimalarial medicines to entire at-risk populations irrespective of infection status to reduce transmission.
Insecticide-treated net (ITN): mosquito netting impregnated with long-lasting insecticides to protect sleeping individuals from vector bites.
Indoor residual spraying (IRS): application of insecticides on interior walls and ceilings to kill mosquitoes that rest indoors.
Vector control: strategies targeting mosquito populations—through chemical, biological or environmental means—to interrupt malaria transmission.
References
- Barriers against and strategies for malaria control during the COVID-19 pandemic in low- and middle-income countries: a systematic review. Malaria Journal (2023).
- Indirect effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on malaria intervention coverage, morbidity, and mortality in Africa: a geospatial modelling analysis. The Lancet Infectious Diseases (2020).
- Challenge and opportunity for vector control strategies on key mosquito-borne diseases during the COVID-19 pandemic. Frontiers in Public Health (2023).
About these summaries
This Nature Research Intelligence Topic summary is created with the cited references and a large language model. We take care to ground generated text with facts, and have systems in place to gain human feedback on the overall quality of the process in line with our AI principles. We strive to create accurate and useful summaries for people unfamiliar with the research topic and that supports this goal. These pages are a beta release and will be updated as we learn how best to help people gain value from a research topic summary.
Turn complex research questions into confident strategic decisions
When you're under pressure to set direction, justify investment, or understand your competitive position, you need more than raw data — you need trusted insights you can act on.
Benchmark your performance against global peers using robust, methodologically sound analysis.
Combine quantitative metrics with qualitative expert insight to uncover strengths, gaps and emerging opportunities.
Gain tailored, decision-ready recommendations aligned to your strategic priorities.
Talk to us to learn more about our data dashboards and bespoke strategy reports.
Grow research skills, confidence and careers with training built for every stage of the research lifecycle.
Developed with Nature Portfolio journal Editors and internationally renowned experts. Discover three ways to learn:
Self-paced, online courses in convenient bite-sized units, covering key skills across scientific writing, publishing, grant writing, data analysis, and more.
Expert trainer-led workshops with hands-on exercises and real-time feedback across core research skills, delivered via interactive group sessions.
Editor-led workshops combining core principles in writing and publishing, personalised 1:1 feedback from Nature Portfolio Editors and hands-on exercises.
Explore course catalogues and workshop agendas, enquire about the options or request institutional pricing.