Artesunate Rectal: Dosing and Precautions
Rectal artesunate guidance for pre-referral treatment of suspected or confirmed severe malaria in young children.
Also searched as
Source reviewed
source date listed on the source page
Guide category
Drugs for external use and antiseptics
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.
Therapeutic action
Antimalarial.
Indications
Pre-referral treatment of suspected or confirmed severe malaria in children less than 6 years, before transfer to a facility where parenteral antimalarial treatment can be administered.
Forms and strengths, route of administration
100 mg rectal capsule.
Dose and duration
10 mg/kg as a single dose before transferring the patient.
- Child 2 months to under 3 years, up to 10 kg: 1 rectal capsule single dose (100 mg).
- Child 3 to under 6 years, up to 20 kg: 2 rectal capsules single dose (200 mg).
Contra-indications, adverse effects, precautions
- May cause gastrointestinal disturbances and headache.
- Buttocks should be held together for at least 1 minute to ensure retention.
- If capsules are expelled from the rectum within 30 minutes of insertion, re-administer the treatment.
- Up to 2 capsules can be administered simultaneously.
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.
Rate this guide
Be the first to rate this guide.