Nanoparticle based drug delivery systems improve antimalarial efficacy and vaccine performance in African research and clinical settings.

BACKGROUND

Malaria is a significant public health problem in sub-Saharan Africa, responsible for a large proportion of the world's malaria cases and deaths. Antimalarial drug resistance and the low efficacy of existing drugs, due to poor solubility, bioavailability, short half-life and non-specific distribution, highlight the importance of the development of better delivery strategies. The current systematic review focuses on the platforms that were developed or evaluated in Africa (2015-2025) involving nanoparticles.

METHODS

PubMed, Web of Science, and Scopus were searched for original experimental (in vitro, in vivo, clinical trials) studies on nanoparticle-mediated antimalarial drug delivery, vaccines, or immune modulation with explicit relevance to African research or populations. After screening 52 records and full-text assessment, 16 studies were included.

RESULTS

Sixteen studies described 14 distinct nanoparticle systems: lipid-based (38%), polymeric (19%), inorganic/metallic (25%), and protein/virus-like particles (19%). Lipid and polymeric nanoparticles achieved 80-95% parasitaemia reduction at reduced doses through enhanced solubility and sustained release. Inorganic carriers offered high loading and pH-triggered delivery, whereas R21/Matrix-M virus-like particles demonstrated 75-80% vaccine efficacy in large African Phase 2b/3 trials.

CONCLUSION

Nanoparticle drug delivery demonstrates potentials in improving antimalarial efficacy, targeting, and safety, yet translation remains limited by manufacturing scale-up, regulatory gaps, and a lack of long-term toxicity data. Strengthening local production and South-South/North-South collaborations is essential to integrating these technologies into Africa's malaria control programmes.

CLINICAL TRIAL NUMBER: Not applicable.