Factors affecting delays in seeking treatment among malaria patients during the pre-certification phase in China.

"Declarations Ethics approval and consent to participateEthical approval was obtained from the Ethics Committee of Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science & Technology (IORG No: IORG0003571). Permission to access and analyze the research data was taken from the National Health Commission of People’s Republic China and the administrators of each hospital. Consent for publicationNot applicable. Competing interestsThe authors declare that they have no competing interests. Competing interests The authors declare that they have no competing interests."

"Funding This study was supported by the National Health Commission of PRC Project Malaria Elimination Assessment and Malaria Policy Analysis and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 72074088); and the Study on Regulatory Science Tools and Clinical Trial Design Specifications for Vaccines for Emerging and Emergent Infectious Diseases (Grant No. 2023YFVA1004)."