In a new study, scientists have found that a single large dose of Vitamin A could protect children under age 5 living in sub-Saharan Africa from malaria.
Study leader Maria-Graciela Hollm-Delgado, MSc, PhD, at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health said that their research found that children who received vitamin A supplementation were 54 percent less likely to become infected with malaria.
Hollm-Delgado and her colleagues analyzed national survey data from four sub-Saharan countries (Burkina Faso, Mozambique, Rwanda and Senegal) on more than 6,100 children between the ages of 6 and 59 months. The researchers were looking for possible links between malaria rates and several types of childhood vaccines as well as vitamin A supplementation. Only vitamin A was found to be protective against the disease.
Vitamin A appeared to be more protective under certain circumstances, including when administered during the rainy season, as well as when given to older children and when more time had passed since supplementation.
The researchers aren't certain why vitamin A would reduce the rate of malaria infection, but they suspect it is because vitamin A, which is known to boost immunity, and improve the ability to fight off infection, may help the body clear out the malaria parasite more quickly.
Only 62 percent of the children in the study had received vitamin A supplementation, despite the known link between vitamin A deficiency and blindness and even death.
Rates were higher for many vaccinations, Hollm-Delgado said. Even though World Health Organization guidelines recommend that all children in sub-Saharan Africa receive a single large dose of vitamin A, Hollm-Delgado said that the guidelines aren't as specific as they are for most vaccinations, and that vitamin A supplementation may be less likely to be administered as a result.
The results are published in the online journal eLife.
