In June 2017, the Government updated its policy on Preventing Malaria in UK Armed Forces Personnel (Joint Service Publication 950, Part 1, Leaflet 3-3-1). The leaflet includes guidance on antimalarial drug use, requiring that drugs only be supplied after a face-to-face malaria health risk assessment, following the Defence Medical Information Capability Programme antimalarial protocol.<\/p>
The recommended drug regime is determined by the sensitivity of malaria parasites to antimalarial drugs in different parts of the world, based on Public Health England guidance. For areas without drug resistance the recommendation is that individuals are offered chloroquine on its own. If chloroquine is not suitable then proguanil is the preferred alternative. For areas of little chloroquine resistance, it is recommended that individuals are offered both chloroquine and proguanil. If chloroquine and proguanil are not suitable and the patient can tolerate proguanil then the patient should normally be offered atovaquone and proguanil.<\/p>
For areas where malarial parasites are known to be resistant to chloroquine it is recommended that individuals are offered atovaquone and proguanil. If atovaquone and proguanil is not suitable they are to be reviewed in order to determine which alternative drug is most appropriate. The second choice drug will normally be doxycycline but may be modified in accordance with the disease profile of the country to be visited. If doxycycline is unsuitable then mefloquine may be prescribed but only after the individual has been reviewed by a doctor.<\/p>"} , "answeringMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/2000", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Earl Howe"} } , "answeringMemberPrinted" : {"_value" : "Earl Howe"} , "dateOfAnswer" : {"_value" : "2017-11-27", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "groupedQuestionUIN" : [{"_value" : "HL3215"} , {"_value" : "HL3216"} ], "isMinisterialCorrection" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "questionFirstAnswered" : [{"_value" : "2017-11-27T15:45:31.57Z", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} ]} , "answeringDeptId" : {"_value" : "11"} , "answeringDeptShortName" : {"_value" : "Defence"} , "answeringDeptSortName" : {"_value" : "Defence"} , "date" : {"_value" : "2017-11-13", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "hansardHeading" : {"_value" : "Armed Forces: Mefloquine"} , "houseId" : {"_value" : "2"} , "legislature" : [{"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/terms/25277", "prefLabel" : {"_value" : "House of Lords"} } ], "questionText" : "To ask Her Majesty's Government in what circumstances it is considered suitable to prescribe the antimalarial drug mefloquine to members of the Armed Forces.", "registeredInterest" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "tablingMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/2024", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Lord Hunt of Kings Heath"} } , "tablingMemberPrinted" : [{"_value" : "Lord Hunt of Kings Heath"} ], "uin" : "HL3102"} ], "itemsPerPage" : 10, "page" : 0, "startIndex" : 1, "totalResults" : 1, "type" : ["http://purl.org/linked-data/api/vocab#ListEndpoint", "http://purl.org/linked-data/api/vocab#Page"]} }