Following the publication a few months ago of the new WHO guidelines for malaria, the European pharmacist, even out of endemic areas, as a health care professional and advisor, has a major role to play in their effective implementation and in the interest of public health. The pharmacist is central in the health care system to ensure the correct application of these recommendations and to perform a decisive role in the prevention of malaria infections, both in the adapted pharmaceutical advice on personal protection against biting vector insects on the one hand, and in the pharmaceutical analysis and recommendations concerning antimalarial chemoprophylaxis prescriptions on the other hand. Physicians and pharmacist biologists, as well as hospital pharmacists, are also important for the analysis and treatment of effective malaria cases, particularly in the management of the diagnostic and therapeutic emergency that a P. falciparum infection represents.
Keywords: WHO guidelines for malaria; antimalarial chemoprophylaxis; continuous training; insecticide resistance; personal protection measures; pharmaceutical advice; pharmaceutical analysis; pharmacist; public health promotion.