A new safety feasibility study reports 100% successful integration of point-of-care G6PD testing into routine clinical malaria care across Papua New Guinea and Indonesia—a significant achievement for resource-limited health systems. The research, published in The Lancet Regional Health – Western Pacific, demonstrates that rapid screening not only functions reliably in field settings but also maintains acceptable safety profiles across all patient stratification groups, including G6PD-normal, heterozygous, and deficient individuals.
This finding addresses a longstanding challenge in vivax malaria management: the inability to safely prescribe primaquine—the only curative agent—without reliable, accessible G6PD screening. By proving 100% feasibility at the point of care, the study validates that logistical and clinical barriers previously considered insurmountable can be overcome through innovation in diagnostic deployment. These results provide essential evidence for malaria control programs seeking to scale rapid G6PD testing and enable evidence-based treatment stratification in endemic regions where laboratory infrastructure remains limited.
Read the full article on GMJ Newsroom.
Was this article helpful?
