Plasmodium vivax is expected to be a greater obstacle to malaria elimination than Plasmodium falciparum. Treatment of P. vivax malaria includes drugs for blood and liver stages of the parasite to enhance clinical recovery and reduce the risk of subsequent relapse. 8-aminoquinolines (primaquine (PQ) and tafenoquine (TQ)) are the known drugs to treat the liver stage as radical cure treatment of P. vivax malaria. However, effective implementation of 8-aminoquinolines has been a challenge in most malaria endemic settings due to the safety concern mostly related to risk of hemolysis with use of these drugs specifically in glucose-6-dehydrogenase (G6PD) deficient persons.

World Health Organization recommends G6PD testing prior to PQ administration for radical cure treatment of P. vivax malaria (1). However, access to laboratory-based assays G6PD testing is a challenge in most malaria endemic setting. The emergence of qualitative G6PD point-of-care (POC) tests has shown promise under laboratory conditions but have limitations in field conditions. A recent development of a quantitative G6PD POC test has shown very promising result in this regard (2).