Malaria ACT Dosing
Weight-band ACT dosing aligned to Nigeria STG 2022, with pregnancy-trimester and G6PD-aware regimen selection.
This tool picks the correct antimalarial regimen for a patient based on weight, pregnancy status and trimester, disease severity, and G6PD status — it isn't a single formula, it's a decision tree that lands on one of several Nigeria STG 2022 regimens. See How Calculator Tools Work for the shared layout.
Inputs
- Weight (kg) — the tool is not validated below 5 kg and blocks a result entirely under that threshold, recommending paediatric specialist referral instead
- Age (months)
- Pregnancy status — not pregnant, or pregnant (with trimester 1/2/3 if pregnant)
- Malaria type — uncomplicated or severe
- G6PD status — unknown, normal, or deficient
- First-line contraindicated — whether Artemether-Lumefantrine is unsuitable for this patient
How the regimen is chosen
- Severe malaria (any patient) → IV/IM Artesunate, 2.4 mg/kg, at 0, 12, 24, then 48 hours, continued daily until the patient can tolerate oral medication. This is flagged as a medical emergency requiring hospital admission regardless of any other input.
- Pregnant, first trimester, severe → IV Artesunate as above, with an explicit note that IV artesunate is used in T1 because the risk of death from severe malaria outweighs the theoretical risk to the foetus.
- Pregnant, first trimester, uncomplicated → Quinine + Clindamycin, three times daily for 7 days, with a warning to monitor for tinnitus and blood glucose (quinine can cause hypoglycaemia in pregnancy).
- Uncomplicated, first-line contraindicated → Artesunate-Amodiaquine (ASAQ), once daily for 3 days, weight-banded.
- Uncomplicated, standard case (including pregnancy T2/T3, which follows the same regimen as non-pregnant patients) → Artemether-Lumefantrine (AL), twice daily for 3 days — 6 doses total, weight-banded, with a day-by-day schedule (dose 1 at 0 hours, dose 2 at 8 hours, then morning/evening on days 2 and 3).
Every regimen includes the exact tablet count for the patient's weight band, a day-by-day schedule you can hand to the patient or caregiver, and the specific STG 2022 chapter reference behind it.
G6PD handling
- Deficient: primaquine is flagged as contraindicated — the tool will not add it for radical cure or gametocyte clearance.
- Unknown: a warning to hold primaquine until G6PD testing is performed, rather than assuming it's safe.
Severe malaria in any patient — pregnant or not — is treated as a medical emergency requiring hospital admission. This tool gives you the correct regimen and schedule; it doesn't replace the admission itself.
Reference
Nigeria STG 2022, Chapter 5.