Malaria Chemoprophylaxis for Travelers: The Knowledge of Physicians in the State of Qatar, 2017

• Main Authors: Ahmad Bawazir, Devendra Bansal, Mohamad Chehab, Ayman Al-Dahshan, Mohamed Bala, Hamad Al-Romaihi, Maha Al-Shamali, Mohamed Al-Hajri, Soha Al-Bayat, Mohammed Al-Thani, Elmoubasher Farag
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: International Travel Medicine Center of Iran 2018-05-01
• Series: International Journal of Travel Medicine and Global Health
• Subjects: Chemoprevention; Malaria; Travel Medicine; Qatar
• Online Access: http://www.ijtmgh.com/article_62077_a5f8d5b915173581cc5f1feabcd16c9a.pdf

<strong>Introduction:</strong> Malaria is among the most significant travel-related infections encountered by travelers to endemic countries in terms of morbidity and mortality. In Qatar, imported malaria has increased over the last 5 years; 493 travel-related cases were confirmed in 2016. In the current study, the knowledge of malaria chemoprophylaxis among physicians in the State of Qatar was assessed.<br /> <strong>Methods:</strong> This was a cross-sectional study conducted during a national travel health workshop at the Ministry of Public Health, Qatar. Physicians participating in the workshop from different national healthcare institutions providing travel medicine services were invited to voluntarily complete a self-administered, structured questionnaire.<br /> <strong>Results:</strong> Forty-two medical doctors participated in the study (92 response rate). Based on their specialty, almost two-thirds (64.3%) of the participants were family medicine physicians, and one-fifth (21.43%) were general practitioners. Furthermore, most of the doctors were untrained in travel medicine. The majority of participants demonstrated a good knowledge of the malaria parasite (100%), Plasmodium species (64.3%), incidence (83.3%), transmission (66.7%), and drug-resistance (95.2%) of malaria. Additionally, most physicians (>90) were knowledgeable about the major features of severe or complicated malaria as well as malaria prevention and chemoprophylaxis.<br /> <strong>Conclusion:</strong> This study highlights several areas of good knowledge on travel-related malaria prophylaxis and prevention among the study participants; however, there are still a few knowledge gaps that require mitigation. Continuing training programs on malaria prevention in travelers will sustain this good level of knowledge among physicians and improve the quality of pre-travel advice provided by travel medicine practitioners in Qatar.