2. Summary of outcomes reported in trials.

Outcomes	Trial	Bojang 2010 GMB	Cox 2013 GMB	Desai 2003 KEN	Phiri 2012 MWI	Verhoef 2002 KEN	Tomashek 2001 TNZ
Haematological outcomes	Mean Hb at end of follow‐up	Mean Hb level at end of transmission period	‐	Hb concentration (measured in g/dL)	‐	Hb concentration at the end of follow‐up (12 weeks)*	Mean Hb
	Mean change of Hb from baseline to follow‐up	‐	Mean change of Hb from baseline to follow‐up	‐	‐	‐	‐
	Children with anaemia at follow‐up	Proportion of children with moderate or severe anaemia at the end of the transmission period*	‐	Hematological recovery (Hb ≥ 11g/dL before or at week 12) Severe anaemia (Hb < 7 g/dL before or at week 12)	‐	Anaemia (Hb < 11.0 g/dL)	Prevalence of anaemia (Hb < 11.0 g/dL)
	Other	‐	Change in erythropoietic response Hb change from baseline to follow‐up in two placebo arms to investigate the effect of antimalarial therapy	MCV (measured in fL) sTfR concentration (measured in µg/mL)	‐	Iron deficiency (serum ferritin concentration < 12 µg/L)	Mean TfR level Prevalence of iron deficiency (TfR < 8.5 µg/mL)
Malaria outcomes	Clinical malaria	Clinical episodes of malaria during the surveillance period	‐	Clinical malaria (axillary temperature 37.5 with co‐existing malaria parasitaemia)	‐	Proportion of children with at least one malaria attack (defined as presence of fever, that is temperature ≥ 37.5°C, and a positive dipstick result)*	‐
	Malaria parasitaemia	Prevalence of parasitaemia and splenomegaly	Prevalence of submicroscopic malaria parasitaemia	Prevalence of malaria parasitaemia Parasite density (parasites/mm3)	‐	‐	‐
	Hospital admissions or clinic visits related to malaria	‐	‐	‐	Hospital re‐admission because of all‐cause severe anaemia or severe malaria Clinic visits because of microscopically confirmed non‐severe malaria	‐	‐
	Other	‐	‐	‐	‐	Time to first occurrence of malaria attack	‐
All‐cause mortality and hospital admission		‐	‐	‐	Composite outcome of all‐cause mortality and hospital readmission because of all‐cause severe anaemia or severe malaria between 1 and 6 months* All‐cause hospital admission All‐cause mortality	‐	‐
Visits to healthcare facilities		Outpatient attendance	‐	Clinic visits (incidence, number of episodes)	All‐cause sick child clinic visits	‐	‐
Other		Nutritional status at the end oft he transmission period Compliance with treatment regimen	Change in urinary neopterin	‐	‐	Adverse drug reactions	‐

*indicates primary outcomes

Abbreviations:

Hb: haemoglobin

TfR: transferrin receptor