Malaria

Malaria happens when a parasite from a mosquito bite causes an infection. Malaria medication works by preventing the malaria parasite from setting itself up to grow inside your liver and bloodstream. Essentially, it stops the development of malaria in your body. 

Some countries have a high risk of malaria. If you’re traveling abroad where the disease is common, it’s important that you take steps to protect yourself. The best way to avoid malaria is combining malaria-preventing medication (chemoprophylaxis)  with methods to help you avoid getting bitten by malaria-carrying mosquitos.

How you take malaria-prevention treatment will depend on which medication you’re using. You may need to take tablets every day or on a weekly basis but you’ll always need to make sure you take the full course of the tablets. 

Sometimes your doctor may suggest you take the tablets as a trial before you travel. Usually this is to check if you have any serious side effects and if you need to change to another type of malaria medication.