The recent Cochrane Collaboration review by Jacquerioz and Croft on drugs to prevent malaria in travellers is a welcome evaluation of randomised controlled trials of malaria chemoprophylaxis in non-immune individuals. The goal of the systematic review was to evaluate the efficacy, safety and tolerability of atovaquoneproguanil, doxycycline and mefloquine (the three priority regimens for malaria prophylaxis) compared with each other, with the defunct combination chloroquineproguanil and with primaquine (considered in some countries to be a candidate for chemoprophylaxis of travellers’ malaria).

This systematic review is particularly valuable for the fact that the stringent selection process meant that only scientifically rigorous trials were included. The authors used appropriate search terms and strategies in screening the chosen databases (the Cochrane Infectious Diseases Group Specialised Register, the Cochrane Central …