Advanced nanomaterials for malaria theranostics

Malaria is still one of the world’s most devastating infectious diseases, even with significant progress in treatment, mosquito control, and vaccines. The rise of drug-resistant Plasmodium parasites and insecticide-resistant Anopheles mosquitoes, along with limitations in traditional diagnosis and treatment methods, continue to hinder efforts to eliminate malaria globally. Nanotechnology has emerged as a valuable approach to address these issues. It offers highly sensitive diagnosis, targeted drug delivery, controlled drug release, vaccine development, and better mosquito management. This review critically highlights the latest advancements in nanotheranostics of malaria based on metal, metal oxides, carbon-based, polymeric, lipid-based, and other hybrid nanomaterials for malaria vaccine delivery and vector control, along with theranostics. The review also highlights key challenges such as nanotoxicity, safety for the environment, manufacturing challenges, consistency, and regulatory issues, along with recent advancements in nanomedicine and artificial-intelligence-based malaria diagnosis systems. Overall, this review underscores the growing potential of innovative nanomaterials to advance malaria diagnosis, treatment, and prevention while pointing out essential research areas needed for successful clinical use.