E-DRUG: Congressional Briefing on Improving Antimalarial Drug Quality in Africa
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For information: A congressional briefing will be held in Washington next tuesday - all are invited. Please RSVP to Kim Hess at khess@fightingmalaria.org
*Improving Antimalarial Drug Quality in Africa*
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
10:00-11:30 am
The Rayburn House Office Building
Room 2200
Washington DC
A recent study published in PLoS ONE found approximately one third of
antimalarial drugs sold in private pharmacies in six African countries were
substandard or fake. Numerous artemisinin monotherapy tablets were found on
sale, despite being proscribed by the World Health Organization in 2006.
Improving the quality of malaria treatment in Africa, where the majority of
people access their medicines from the private sector, is vital. Resistance
to artemisinin therapies has already been found in South East Asia. With no
new class of drugs likely to replace artemisinin-based combination therapies
for at least a decade, great care must be taken to control for the
development of resistance. Ensuring high quality combination therapies are
used along with improved diagnosis is essential if the goals of the US
President's Malaria Initiative are to be achieved and sustained.