Each year, more than 200 million people fall sick with malaria and more than half a million of these infections lead to death.

The World Health Organization recommends parasite-based diagnosis before starting treatment for the disease. Doctors use a variety of diagnostic methods, including conventional light microscopy, rapid diagnostic tests and polymerase chain reaction.

The standard for malaria diagnosis remains manual light microscopy, during which a specialist examines blood films with a microscope to confirm the presence of malaria parasites. But the accuracy of the results depends on the skills of the microscopist.

“At an 88 per cent diagnostic accuracy rate relative to microscopists, the AI system identified malaria parasites almost, though not quite, as well as experts,” said Dr Roxanne Rees-Channer, a UCLH researcher.

“This level of performance in a clinical setting is a major achievement for AI algorithms targeting malaria. It indicates that...