Artesunate Oral: Dosing and Precautions
Oral artesunate guidance for malaria treatment only when used in co-formulated combinations with another antimalarial.
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Source reviewed
source date listed on the source page
Guide category
Potentially dangerous, obsolete, or ineffective
Safety boundary
Prescription medicine information for clinician-guided use.
Kenza Health Hub presents this medicine page as structured health education. Check dose, route, interactions, pregnancy or breast-feeding considerations, and local protocol with a qualified clinician or pharmacist. Read our medical editorial policy.
Use restrictions
Oral artesunate must always be administered in combination with another antimalarial in co-formulated tablets: artesunate/amodiaquine or artesunate/mefloquine.
Therapeutic action
Antimalarial.
Indications
- Treatment of uncomplicated falciparum malaria, in combination with another antimalarial.
- Treatment of uncomplicated malaria due to other Plasmodium species, in combination with another antimalarial, when chloroquine cannot be used.
- Completion treatment following parenteral therapy for severe malaria, in combination with another antimalarial.
Forms and strengths
50 mg tablet.
Dosage and duration
Child and adult: 4 mg/kg once daily for 3 days in combination with another antimalarial.
Contra-indications, adverse effects, precautions
- May cause gastrointestinal disturbances and dizziness.
- Pregnancy: no contra-indication.
- Breast-feeding: no contra-indication.
Source
MSF Essential drugs practical guidelines (January 2026)
This page combines source-derived medicine reference sections with Kenza editorial context, while leaving out the Storage and Remarks sections from the source batch.
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