Alice Nekesa did not know she was infected with malaria-causing parasites until it was too late.

She was in the fourth month of pregnancy last year when she started bleeding, a miscarriage later attributed to untreated malaria in her.

The Ugandan farmer said recently that she regretted the loss of what would have been her second child “because I didn’t discover malaria and treat it early.”

Variations of such cases are commonly reported by Ugandan health workers who witness stillbirths or feverish babies that die within days from undiagnosed malaria.

The deaths are part of a wider death toll tied to mosquito-borne disease, the deadliest across Africa but one easily treated in adults who seek timely medical care.

Until recently, a major gap in malaria treatment has been how to look after newborns and infants infected with malaria but not yet strong enough to receive regular medication.

That changed last month when Swiss medical regulators approved medicine from Basel-based pharmaceutical company Novartis for treatment of babies with body weights between 2 and 5 kilograms (nearly 4½ to 11 pounds).

Swissmedic said the treatment, a sweet-tasting tablet that dissolves quickly in small amounts of water, was approved in coordination with the World Health Organization under a fast-track authorization process to help developing countries access much-needed treatment.

Africa’s 1.5 billion people accounted for 95% of an estimated 597,000 malaria deaths worldwide in 2023, according to the WHO. More than three-quarters of those deaths were among children.

In Uganda, an east African country of 45 million people, there were 12.6 million malaria cases and nearly 16,000 deaths in 2023. Many were children under 5 and pregnant women, according to WHO.

Nigeria, Congo and Uganda — in that order — are the African countries most burdened by malaria.

The drug approved by Swiss authorities, known as Coartem Baby in some countries and Riamet Baby in others, is a combination of two antimalarials.

It is a lower dose version of a tablet previously approved for other age groups, including for older children.

Before Coartem Baby, antimalarial drugs designed for older children were administered to small infants in careful ways to avoid overdose or toxicity.

Ugandan authorities, who have been working to update clinical guidelines for treating malaria, say the new drug will be rolled out as soon as possible. It is not yet available in public hospitals.

The development of Coartem Baby has given hope to many, with local health workers and others saying the medicine will save the lives of many infants.

During the so-called malaria season, which coincides with rainy periods twice a year, long lines of sick patients grow outside government-run health centers across Uganda. Many are often women with babies strapped to their backs.

In addition to Uganda, the drug will be rolled out in Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Nigeria, and Tanzania, the group said.

AP video by Patrick Onen; production by Jackson Njehia