Table 1 PICOS strategy and eligibility criteria

P:Population

Participants residing in Ethiopia and having uncomplicated falciparum malaria, irrespective of gender and age group were considered. Microscopy of the peripheral blood smear samples detected mono-infection with a P. falciparum parasite count of 1000–100,000/µl

I: Intervention

Studies using fixed dose compound tablets artemether–lumefantrine (20/120 mg) were included. All participants must have received a standard six-dose regimen of AL over 3 days and were followed up for 28 days

C:Comparison

Standard treatment, no treatment, not applicable

O: Outcome

The primary objective of this review was the efficacy of AL measured as treatment success at day 28 [or adequate clinical and parasitological response (ACPR)]. The secondary outcomes were measured based on the parasite clearance time and fever clearance time and the occurrence of adverse events (AEs)

Studies that do not report any treatment success (cure rates) of AL at day-28 as primary outcome

S: Study design

Randomized clinical trials (RCTs), non-randomized single-arm intervention studies (with or without a control group) and prospective cohort studies that reported the therapeutic efficacy of AL for the treatment of uncomplicated falciparum malaria in Ethiopia

All the non-primary literature, retrospective studies, case reports and animal or in vitro experiments were excluded