Sir Julian Lewis: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to the Fourth Report of the Defence Committee of Session 2014-15 entitled An acceptable risk? The use of Lariam for military personnel, HC 567, published on 10 May 2016, how many Service personnel were issued with (a) Lariam (Mefloquine) and (b) other anti-malarial prophylaxis in each of the last 10 years.  [2670]

[Due for Answer on 1 June]

ANSWER

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Veterans and People (Louise Sandher-Jones): The Department continues to monitor and publish bi-annual statistics on the number of prescriptions for mefloquine (also known as Larium) given to UK armed forces personnel at Ministry of Defence medical facilities since 12 September 2016. The full release of information can be found at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/mefloquine-lariam-prescribing-in-the-uk-armed-forces-statistics-index

The number of all antimalarials prescribed to armed forces personnel during the period Sept 2016 to 30 March 2023 is available at Table 1 at the following link:

https://view.officeapps.live.com/op/view.aspx?src=https%3A%2F%2Fassets.publishing.service.gov.uk%2Fmedia%2F646cb6b8382a5100139fc5c9%2FMefloquine_Prescribing_in_the_UK_Armed_Forces_Supplementary_tables.xlsx&wdOrigin=BROWSELINK

There were 29,830 antimalarials, not including mefloquine, prescribed between 1 April 2023 – 30 September 2025. Table 1, below, provides this information by 6-month period and year. Antimalarials include prescriptions for doxycycline. Doxycycline may have been prescribed for antibiotic or antimalarial purposes.

Table 1: Other antimalarial prescriptions(1) by annual and six-month period, numbers

1 April 2023 to 30 September 2025

⁽¹⁾ Does not include mefloquine prescriptions.

⁽²⁾ Includes prescriptions between 1 April 2025 and 30 September 2025 only.