Examining three major genetic regions strongly associated with protection from severe malaria in East Africa (HBB: HbAS; ABO: O blood group; FREM3: in close linkage with the GYPA/B/E structural variants that encode the Dantu blood group; Band et al., 2019), the data-tilting approach estimated larger effect sizes compared to the non-weighted model in all three regions (effect size increases: 30% around HBB, 9% around ABO and 5% around FREM3). This evidence concerns the gene ABO and malaria.