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<p>The Government's updated policy on Preventing Malaria in UK Armed Forces Personnel
(Joint Service Publication 950, Part 1, Leaflet 3-3-1) makes it explicit that, if
dispensed from a military source, all antimalarial drugs can only be prescribed after
a face-to-face assessment with an appropriately trained and regulated healthcare professional
has taken place.</p><p> </p><p>The Official Statistic of 16 November 2017, Mefloquine
Prescribing in the Armed Forces, shows that between 1 April and 30 September 2017,
there were 40 prescriptions for mefloquine out of a total of 6,221 antimalarial prescriptions.
Of those 40 prescriptions, 32 had an electronic coded entry on Defence Medical Information
Capability Programme for a face-to-face assessment. However, this does not necessarily
mean that 8 individuals did not have a face-to-face assessment. If the healthcare
professional recorded it as free text rather than using a coded checkbox then it will
not appear in the dataset. Of the 40 prescriptions, 28 had an electronic coded entry
recording that an alternative antimalarial to mefloquine had been offered. Again,
this does not necessarily mean that 12 individuals did not have an alternative offered,
for the reasons previously stated.</p><p> </p><p>Given healthcare professionals are
permitted to record any part of a consultation in free text, it might be that a face-to-face
assessment, or record of alternative antimalarials being offered, will not be recorded
through an electronic coded entry in 100 per cent of cases.</p><p> </p>
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