RESEARCH Frequency and correlates o r

ga te Background were infrequently available and cost prohibitive and Onchiri et al. Malaria Journal (2015) 14:97 DOI 10.1186/s12936-015-0613-7these guidelines with subsequent improvements in2Kenya Medical Research Institute, Centre for Clinical Research, Nairobi, Kenya Full list of author information is available at the end of the articleMalaria is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality among children in sub-Saharan Africa. The most well recognized sign of malaria infection is fever, which ac-counts for over 30-50 % of all paediatric hospital visits in sub-Saharan Africa [1]. Historically, international guide-lines recommended presumptive treatment of malaria in febrile children in endemic areas, as diagnostic tools malaria-attributable mortality that would occur if treat-ment was delayed was high [2]. Following considerable declines in malarial transmission in many parts of Africa, including in highly endemic areas [3-5], the in-creased recognition of the importance of life-threatening non-malaria fevers [6-8] and the wide availability of cheap and highly sensitive rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs), the World Health Organization released new malaria treatment guidelines in 2010 that recommend limiting treatment to laboratory-confirmed malaria [9]