Barriers against and strategies for malaria control during the COVID-19 pandemic in low- and middle-income countries: a systematic review

Authors: Jiwook Park, Seungwoo Kang, Dayoung Seok, Yae Jee Baek, Se Young An, Junga Lee, Alina Jun, Sun-Young Kim

This review sought to systematically understand the main causes of the disruption to malaria control during the COVID-19 pandemic, and aimed to synthesize strategies for future pandemic planning. Through searches of electronic databases and Google Scholar, a systematic literature review was conducted to identify studies pertaining to malaria control between January 2020 and December 2021. This review identified complex barriers to malaria control, which disproportionately affected LMICs. From these results, authors recommend that stakeholders implement several cross-cutting strategies to overcome barriers to malaria control during pandemics, while enhancing and strengthening their health systems simultaneously.