Kevan Jones – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevan Jones on 2016-01-27.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many armed forces personnel who have taken Mefloquine have been treated for psychiatric problems in the last 12 months.

Mark Lancaster

Between 1 April 2007 and 30 September 2015 a minimum of 17,623 UK Regular Armed Forces personnel were prescribed mefloquine.

For the year 1 October 2014 to 30 September 2015 (the latest date for which information is available) a minimum of 354 (2%) with a history of mefloquine prescription subsequently were assessed as having a mental health disorder at their initial assessment at a Ministry of Defence (MOD) Department for Community Mental Healthcare, or admission to the MOD in-patient provider.

It must be noted that this numerical association does not prove direct causation. Further, a comparison of personnel prescribed other antimalarial chemoprophylactic agents with those prescribed mefloquine has shown no statistical difference between these groups in terms of the amount of time between antimalarial prescription and the presentation for mental healthcare.

This emphasises it is not possible from centrally held data to identify whether a mental health episode is associated with being prescribed mefloquine, nor whether personnel have taken or continued to take mefloquine after they were prescribed it.