HPR volume 20 issue 6: news (25 June 2026)
Updated 25 June 2026
© Crown copyright 2026
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New-format malaria prevention guidelines published
Guidelines for healthcare workers who advise UK residents travelling to malaria-endemic areas have been re-issued by the UKHSA’s UK Malaria Expert Advisory Group (UKMEAG). The guidelines may also be of use to prospective travellers who wish to read about the options themselves.
While diagnosis and treatment of malaria are outlined, the focus of the guidelines is on malaria prevention, and they are framed around four prevention principles: awareness of risk; bite prevention; chemoprophylaxis; and prompt diagnosis and treatment.
On chemoprophylaxis, for example, recommendations for antimalarials should be appropriate for the destination and tailored to the individual, taking into account possible risks and benefits to the traveller. As part of a stringent individual pre-travel risk assessment, it is essential that a full clinical history is obtained, detailing current medication, significant health problems and any known drug allergies, the guidelines state.
The guidelines include a table of specific recommendations for individual countries, as well as advice for special risk groups and traveller types, which should be taken into account for traveller risk assessments.
On diagnosis and treatment, the reader is referred to British Society for Haematology guidelines for the laboratory diagnosis of malaria and the UKMEAG malaria treatment guidelines for a full description of the actions required on those items.
In the new edition of the guidelines, updates have been made to the section on India in Country recommendations, using data from the National Vector Borne Disease Control Programme of India. The NHS TRAVAX website, including FitforTravel, has been retired.
The UKMEAG (formerly the Advisory Committee on Malaria Prevention) guidelines are available at Malaria prevention guidelines for travellers from the UK 2026. This web page, and the relevant country information pages on TravelHealthPro, should be checked regularly for subsequent updates and practitioners should ensure that they always use the latest version as recommendations may change.
Recent trends
Imported malaria case numbers in the United Kingdom have increased steadily in recent years, aligning with the post-pandemic resurgence of international travel and a high global malaria burden. This trend culminated in a peak of 2,106 cases in 2023, the highest annual total reported since 2001. Provisional data indicate a slight decline in recent years, with 1,812 cases in 2024 and 1,629 cases in 2025. In contrast, trends reported by the World Health Organization indicate global malaria cases have increased slightly in recent years, with case numbers rising from an estimated 263 million in 2023 to 282 million in 2024, reflecting a continued upward trend in the global burden.
New format report
The UKMEAG guidelines have been published for the first time as a series of HTML documents including an executive summary and separate sections including those on risk awareness, bite prevention, chemoprophylaxis, country recommendations, diagnosis, special risk groups, special categories of travel, common queries and information sources.
In previous years the guidelines were updated and republished annually as a single PDF format document. A major advantage of the new format is that maps of malarious countries (included in the Country Recommendations section) can be continuously updated, as risk conditions change, whereas previously some would become out-of-date between annual updates.
The UKMEAG will continue to review, update and reissue the guidelines annually.
Comments on the new format presentation are invited to: ukmeag@ukhsa.gov.uk.
Infection reports in this issue
Laboratory confirmed cases of invasive meningococcal infection in England: January to March 2026
Laboratory confirmed cases of pertussis in England: annual report for 2025
Laboratory confirmed cases of pertussis in England: October to December 2025
Gastrointestinal infections and outbreaks in England: 2024 to 2026
Laboratory surveillance of fungaemia due to yeasts in England: 2025
Vaccine coverage reports
Childhood vaccine coverage: provisional monthly data for England: April 2026