TY - JOUR AB - The burden of malaria is heavily concentrated in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) where cases and deaths associated with COVID-19 are rising1. In response, countries are implementing societal measures aimed at curtailing transmission of SARS-CoV-22,3. Despite these measures, the COVID-19 epidemic could still result in millions of deaths as local health facilities become overwhelmed4. Advances in malaria control this century have been largely due to distribution of long-lasting insecticidal nets (LLINs)5, with many SSA countries having planned campaigns for 2020. In the present study, we use COVID-19 and malaria transmission models to estimate the impact of disruption of malaria prevention activities and other core health services under four different COVID-19 epidemic scenarios. If activities are halted, the malaria burden in 2020 could be more than double that of 2019. In Nigeria alone, reducing case management for 6 months and delaying LLIN campaigns could result in 81,000 (44,000-119,000) additional deaths. Mitigating these negative impacts is achievable, and LLIN distributions in particular should be prioritized alongside access to antimalarial treatments to prevent substantial malaria epidemics. AU - Sherrard-Smith,E AU - Hogan,AB AU - Hamlet,A AU - Watson,OJ AU - Whittaker,C AU - Winskill,P AU - Ali,F AU - Mohammad,AB AU - Uhomoibhi,P AU - Maikore,I AU - Ogbulafor,N AU - Nikau,J AU - Kont,MD AU - Challenger,JD AU - Verity,R AU - Lambert,B AU - Cairns,M AU - Rao,B AU - Baguelin,M AU - Whittles,LK AU - Lees,JA AU - Bhatia,S AU - Knock,ES AU - Okell,L AU - Slater,HC AU - Ghani,AC AU - Walker,PGT AU - Okoko,OO AU - Churcher,TS DO - 10.1038/s41591-020-1025-y EP - 1416 PY - 2020/// SN - 1078-8956 SP - 1411 TI - The potential public health consequences of COVID-19 on malaria in Africa. T2 - Nature Medicine UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41591-020-1025-y UR - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32770167 UR - https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-020-1025-y UR - http://hdl.handle.net/10044/1/81652 VL - 26 ER -