Malaria chemoprophylaxis in British casualties returning from Afghanistan.

Introduction British military personnel deploying on OP HERRICK to Afghanistan are exposed to a seasonal malaria risk from May to November (1). In accordance with current policy, all ranks are prescribed Anti-Malarial Chemoprophylaxis (AMC) and instructed to take it (2). All AMC regimes require continuation for a period after possible exposure. Therefore, personnel requiring medical evacuation from Afghanistan to the Role 4 facility at the Royal Centre for Defence Medicine (RCDM) should, depending on the time of year, be prescribed AMC. This topic has been subject to two previous audits cycles, both of which have demonstrated poor compliance with this principle of care (3, 4). This audit was repeated in order to quantify current AMC prescription rates in military personnel admitted to RCDM Birmingham and to determine whether there had been improvement since the previous audit cycle.