Research Article: Efficacy of antimalarial herbal medicines used by communities in malaria affected regions globally: a protocol for systematic review and evidence and gap map
Abstract:
Introduction With the rising resistance to artemisinin-based combination treatments, there is a need to hasten the discovery and development of newer antimalarial agents. Herbal medicines are key for the development of novel drugs. Currently, herbal medicine usage in communities for treatment of malaria symptoms is common as an alternative to conventional (modern) antimalarial agents. However, the efficacy and safety of most of the herbal medicines has not yet been established. Therefore, this systematic review and evidence gap map (EGM) is intended to collate and map the available evidence, identify the gaps and synthesise the efficacy of herbal antimalarial medicines used in malaria affected regions globally. Methods and analysis The systematic review and EGM will be done following PRISMA and Campbell Collaboration guidelines respectively. This protocol has been registered in PROSPERO. Data sources will include PubMed, MEDLINE Ovid, EMBASE, Web of Science, Google Scholar and grey literature search. Data extraction will be done in duplicate using a data extraction tool tailored in Microsoft Office excel for herbal antimalarials discovery research questions following the PICOST framework. The Risk of Bias and overall quality of evidence will be assessed using Cochrane risk of bias tool (clinical trials), QUIN tool (in vitro studies), Newcastle-Ottawa tool (observational studies) and SYRCLE’s risk of bias tool for animal studies (in vivo studies). Data analysis will be done using both structured narrative and quantitative synthesis. The primary review outcomes will be clinically important efficacy and adverse drug reactions. Laboratory parameters will include Inhibitory Concentration killing 50% of parasites, IC 50; Ring Stage Assay, RSA 0–3 hou; Trophozoite Survival Assay, TSA 50. Ethics and dissemination The review protocol was approved by the School of Biomedical Science Research Ethics Committee, Makerere University College of Health Sciences (SBS-2022-213). PROSPERO registration number CRD42022367073.
Introduction:
Malaria remains a global public health problem affecting nearly half of the world’s population. In the year 2020, global estimates indicated 241?million malaria cases and 627 000 malaria deaths. 1 Malaria was still deadly in 2021 as the 6th most important cause of death in Africa ahead of COVID-19 that was the 7th, up from the 22nd in 2020 driven by the delta variant. Sub-Saharan Africa carries the greatest burden, accounting for about 95% of all malaria cases and 96% of all deaths in 2020. 1 Chemotherapy with…
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