Severe malarial anemia (MA) is the primary manifestation of severe malaria among children in areas of holoendemic Plasmodium falciparum transmission. Although overproduction of inflammatory-derived cytokines are implicated in the immunopathogenesis of severe MA, chemokines such as regulated on activation, normal T-cell expressed and secreted (RANTES, CCL5) are largely unexplored in childhood malaria. We found that RANTES is decreased during severe MA (p<0.01), and associated with suppression of erythropoiesis (p<0.05) and malaria-induced thrombocytopenia (p<0.05). These findings suggest that thrombocytopenia may be a source of reduced RANTES which may contribute, at least in part, to suppression of erythropoiesis in children with malarial anemia.