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Imported malaria among people who travel to visit friends and relatives: is current UK policy effective or does it need a strategic change?

Overview of attention for article published in Malaria Journal, April 2015
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  • In the top 25% of all research outputs scored by Altmetric
  • High Attention Score compared to outputs of the same age (84th percentile)
  • High Attention Score compared to outputs of the same age and source (80th percentile)

Mentioned by

blogs
1 blog
twitter
4 X users
facebook
1 Facebook page

Citations

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41 Dimensions

Readers on

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111 Mendeley
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Title
Imported malaria among people who travel to visit friends and relatives: is current UK policy effective or does it need a strategic change?
Published in
Malaria Journal, April 2015
DOI 10.1186/s12936-015-0666-7
Pubmed ID
Authors

Ron H Behrens, Penny E Neave, Caroline OH Jones

Abstract

The proportion of all imported malaria reported in travellers visiting friends and relatives (VFRs) in the UK has increased over the past decade and the proportion of Plasmodium falciparum malaria affecting this group has remained above 80% during that period. The epidemiological data suggest that the strategies employed in the UK to prevent imported malaria have been ineffective for VFRs. This paper attempts to identify possible reasons for the failure of the malaria prevention strategy among VFRs and suggest potential alternatives. A review of the current UK malaria prevention guidelines was undertaken and their approach was compared to the few data that are available on malaria perceptions and practices among VFRs. The current UK malaria prevention guidelines focus on educating travellers and health professionals using messages based on the personal threat of malaria and promoting the benefits of avoiding disease through the use of chemoprophylaxis. While malaria morbidity disproportionately affects VFRs, the mortality rates from malaria in VFRs is eight times, and severe disease eight times lower than in tourist and business travellers. Recent research into VFR malaria perceptions and practices has highlighted the complex socio-ecological context within which VFRs make their decisions about malaria. These data suggest that alternative strategies that move beyond a knowledge-deficit approach are required to address the burden of malaria in VFRs. Potential alternative strategies include the use of standby emergency-treatment (SBET) for the management of fevers with an anti-malarial provided pre-travel, the provision of rapid diagnostic testing and treatment regimen based in general-practitioner surgeries, and urgent and walk-in care centres and local accident and emergency (A&E) departments to provide immediate diagnosis and accessible ambulatory treatment for malaria patients. This latter approach would potentially address some of the practical barriers to reducing the burden of malaria in VFRs by moving the process nearer to the community.

X Demographics

X Demographics

The data shown below were collected from the profiles of 4 X users who shared this research output. Click here to find out more about how the information was compiled.
Mendeley readers

Mendeley readers

The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 111 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.

Geographical breakdown

Country Count As %
United Kingdom 1 <1%
Unknown 110 99%

Demographic breakdown

Readers by professional status Count As %
Student > Master 17 15%
Student > Ph. D. Student 13 12%
Other 12 11%
Student > Postgraduate 11 10%
Student > Doctoral Student 10 9%
Other 23 21%
Unknown 25 23%
Readers by discipline Count As %
Medicine and Dentistry 48 43%
Nursing and Health Professions 7 6%
Agricultural and Biological Sciences 5 5%
Pharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutical Science 3 3%
Business, Management and Accounting 2 2%
Other 14 13%
Unknown 32 29%
Attention Score in Context

Attention Score in Context

This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 10. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 03 May 2016.
All research outputs
#3,154,385
of 23,321,213 outputs
Outputs from Malaria Journal
#760
of 5,657 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#42,062
of 265,993 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Malaria Journal
#22
of 108 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 23,321,213 research outputs across all sources so far. Compared to these this one has done well and is in the 86th percentile: it's in the top 25% of all research outputs ever tracked by Altmetric.
So far Altmetric has tracked 5,657 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a little more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 6.8. This one has done well, scoring higher than 86% of its peers.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 265,993 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one has done well, scoring higher than 84% of its contemporaries.
We're also able to compare this research output to 108 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has done well, scoring higher than 80% of its contemporaries.