Is It Really Malaria?

When your child has a fever, your first thought might be "malaria." And you're not alone—most mothers in Nigeria think the same way. But here's something that might surprise you: many children diagnosed with malaria don't actually have it. In fact, studies in Lagos found that over 80% of children treated for malaria based on their symptoms alone didn't have the disease when properly tested. This means thousands of children are taking malaria medicine they don't need, while their real illness goes untreated.

Three Eye-Opening Facts About Malaria Diagnosis

1. Not every fever is malaria. While malaria does cause fever, so do many other common childhood illnesses like flu, throat infections, ear infections, and pneumonia. When doctors diagnose malaria based only on symptoms without a proper test, they're often wrong. One study in Abuja showed that when children with fever were actually tested, only about 1 in 5 truly had malaria.

2. Malaria medicines aren't candy—they have side effects. ACT medicines (the ones commonly used to treat malaria) can cause nausea, vomiting, dizziness, and loss of appetite. In rare cases, children can have serious allergic reactions that need emergency care. Some studies in animals have shown these drugs might affect the brain when given in high doses over long periods. Why expose your child to these risks if they don't have malaria?

3. Using malaria medicine when you don't need it helps create "super malaria." Just like when antibiotics stop working for bacteria, malaria parasites are becoming resistant to our best medicines. Every time someone takes artemisinin-based drugs unnecessarily, we increase the chance that malaria parasites will learn to survive these medicines. This means when your child really does have malaria, the medicine might not work.

What Mothers Need to Know

Always insist on a proper test before treatment. The old way of treating malaria based on just feeling hot or having a fever is outdated and dangerous. Today, we have good ways to test for malaria through simple blood tests that can tell you for sure if your child has malaria. These tests are quick and available at most health centers. Don't let anyone convince you that testing isn't necessary.

Know what else could be making your child sick. Research shows that many children diagnosed with malaria actually have other serious conditions like respiratory infections, diarrhea, or bacterial infections. Some of these—like pneumonia or meningitis—can be deadly if not treated quickly with the right medicine. When a child with pneumonia gets malaria medicine instead of antibiotics, precious time is wasted, and their condition can get worse.

Understand the real dangers of overtreatment. When your child takes medicine they don't need, three bad things happen: First, they face unnecessary side effects. Second, their actual illness doesn't get treated, so they stay sick longer. Third, we all contribute to drug resistance, making it harder to treat malaria when it really strikes. This is what doctors call "iatrogenic harm"—harm caused by medical treatment itself.

One Important Message for All Nigerians

If I could share just one thing with every person in Nigeria, it would be this: Before you give your child any malaria medicine, demand a malaria test. Whether you're at a health center, pharmacy, or seeing a private doctor, say firmly: "Please test my child first."

A simple test costs much less than treating complications from the wrong medicine. It costs less than treating malaria that has become resistant. Most importantly, it could save your child's life by finding the real cause of their fever in time.

Yes, Nigeria has a huge malaria problem. Yes, malaria kills many children. But treating every fever as malaria without testing is not the answer—it's part of the problem. We need to be smarter, not just faster, in how we care for our children.

Be the mother who asks questions, demands proper testing, and protects not just your child but all our children by using malaria medicines wisely.