Acceptability of intermittent preventive treatment of malaria in pregnancy with sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine plus dihydroartemisinin-piperaquine in Papua New Guinea: a qualitative study

Abstract

Background: In moderate-to-high malaria transmission regions, the World Health Organization recommends intermittent preventive treatment in pregnancy (IPTp) with sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine (SP) alongside insecticide-treated bed nets to reduce the adverse consequences of pregnancy-associated malaria. Due to high-grade Plasmodium falciparum resistance to SP, novel treatment regimens need to be evaluated for IPTp, but these increase pill burden and treatment days. The present qualitative study assessed the acceptability of IPTp-SP plus dihydroartemisinin-piperaquine (DP) in Papua New Guinea, where IPTp-SP was implemented in 2009. Methods: Individual in-depth interviews (IDIs) and focus group dis..