Could new malaria drug give babies a better chance of survival?

‘Malaria in newborns presents differently so it’s not easy to catch it in good time,’ says Agnes Akoth, who worked as a nurse in Kisumu. Photograph: Brent Stirton/Courtesy of Novartis

When Rose Akinyi’s baby, Jayla Joy, would not eat or stop crying one night, she thought her newborn had a stomach upset. She gave her some mild pain medication, but her condition grew worse.

“She was burning hot, so I removed her clothes and gave her [more pain medication],” said 30-year-old Akinyi, from Kisumu, a port city in western Kenya on Lake Victoria.