Brazil health officials have launched an innovative malaria treatment for children in the Unified Health System (SUS) . With this measure, Brazil becomes the first country in the world to make tafenoquine available in a 50 mg pediatric formulation, indicated for children weighing between 10 kg and 35 kg.
The new drug formulation will be administered in a single dose, providing greater comfort and convenience for families and healthcare professionals; improved adherence to therapy; complete elimination of the parasite; and prevention of relapses, contributing to the interruption of disease transmission. It also allows for dose adjustment according to the child’s weight, ensuring greater treatment efficacy.
Children account for approximately 50% of malaria cases in the country. Until now, since 2024, the medication was only offered to young people and adults from the age of 16, focusing on priority areas in the Amazon region.
The Ministry of Health has already received 64,800 tablets which will be distributed in areas with the highest incidence, such as the Special Indigenous Health Districts (DSEI) Yanomami , Alto Rio Negro, Rio Tapajós, Manaus, Vale do Javari and Médio Rio Solimões and Tributaries. These territories account for approximately 50% of malaria cases in children and young people up to 15 years old. The first to receive the tablets will be the Yanomami DSEI, with 14,550 tablets.
In 2024, the Yanomami Territory was the first region in Brazil to receive tafenoquine 150mg, indicated for patients over 16 years of age, as part of an innovative strategy to improve treatment in the most affected regions.
According to Mariângela Batista Galvão Simão, Secretary of Health and Environment Surveillance at the Ministry of Health, it is important that this medication reaches indigenous territories. “As we expand treatment coverage quickly and efficiently, we also reduce the risk of malaria transmission in communities. If we can achieve high coverage, it is possible to reduce cases of the disease by up to 20,000. If there is no medication like tafenoquine for children and no rapid test to facilitate early diagnosis, we lack effective tools to address the problem. Therefore, bringing these technologies to the areas most affected by malaria, where they can have the greatest impact, is our obligation,” she explained.
Malaria is one of the main public health challenges in the Amazon region, especially in hard-to-reach areas and indigenous territories, where geographical and social factors increase vulnerability to the disease. The Ministry of Health continues to intensify monitoring and strengthen vector control actions, active case finding, provision of rapid tests, and other strategies to combat the disease in the region.
Between 2023 and 2025, in the Yanomami territory alone, there was a 103.7% increase in testing, a 116.6% increase in the number of diagnoses, and a 70% reduction in deaths from the disease.