Bibliographic information
GuidelineWHO guidelines for malaria, 13 August 2025
Year of Publication2025
Issuing InstitutionWorld Health Organization
Recommendation
New
Qualitative near-patient tests for glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD) deficiency should be used to inform administration of specific treatment regimens to prevent relapses of P. vivax and P. ovale. G6PD non-deficient individuals can receive 0.5 mg/kg/day primaquine for 14 days or 0.5 mg/kg/day primaquine for 7 days.
Recommended in favor
Strong
Certainty of evidence
Moderate
Notes and Remarks
Remarks
- In males and females, <30% of normal G6PD activity is considered deficient.
- In patients undergoing G6PD activity testing, near-patient qualitative tests for G6PD deficiency are considered highly accurate to distinguish G6PD above or below a threshold of 30% of normal G6PD activity.
- These tests cannot be used to identify females with intermediate G6PD deficiency (30–70% G6PD activity) due to a heterozygous genotype. Instead, females with G6PD activity in this intermediate range will be classified as normal with a qualitative test.