E-drug: MSF press release: malaria treatment
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Number One Killer of Children in Africa Too Expensive to Treat
Effectively? - Report released by MSF shows this myth is unfounded -
13 February 2002, Nairobi - As East African countries are about to
change national malaria treatment protocols, M�decins Sans Fronti�res
(MSF) today releases a report in the hope of averting a fatal choice.
In recent years, increasing parasite resistance has rendered
antimalarial drugs such as chloroquine and Fansidar� virtually useless
in many parts of East Africa. Malaria experts agree that in order to
offer patients effective treatment and prevent further spread of
resistance, protocols should include drug combinations with the highly
potent Chinese drugs known as artemisinin derivatives.
However, because of a lack of resources and donor preference for cheap
solutions, many health ministries are considering changing protocols
to transition strategies, using combinations of drugs that will be
equivalent to giving some patients placebos. This decision is a matter
of life and death in a disease that kills between 1.3 and 1.8 million
African children a year.
"Knowing more effective drugs are available and not being able to give
them to my patients has been so difficult," said Dr. Diane Cheynier,
MSF Burundi. "Treatment exists that can avoid people dying
unnecessarily. With the help of donors, African governments can avoid
the fatal error of going to stop-gap, band-aid solutions."
In MSF's report, increased costs of more effective drugs are
pinpointed as one of the chief barriers to widespread implementation
in the public sector. Current drug combinations cost just US$0.25 per
adult dose while more effective combinations with artemisinin
derivatives cost approximately US$1.30. However, the report shows that
for Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda combined, the
additional costs to implement the more effective combinations would
only amount to US$19 million a year.
When African governments make the political decision to implement
effective long term strategies, they will need the support of donors.
"We believe that the report released today destroys one of the key
myths blocking the introduction of treatment that has been highly
recommended by leading malaria experts," said Dr. Jean-Marie
Kindermans of MSF, author of the report. "The cost of switching to
effective combinations rather than combinations which are often no
better than placebos is affordable if international donors are willing
to help."
Artemisinin derivatives, which are extracted from a Chinese plant and
have been used in Asia for more than ten years, have attributes that
make them especially effective against malaria and are therefore
viewed as essential elements of effective combinations. They are
fast-acting, highly potent and complementary to other classes of
treatment. When used in combination with a second drug, artemisinin
derivatives appear to slow the development of resistance to the second
drug. For this reason, experts predict that artemisinin-containing
combinations would continue to be effective in the long term. To date,
no resistance to artemisinin drugs has been reported.
The full report "Changing national malaria treatment protocols in
Africa: What is the cost and who will pay?" can be found on
www.accessmed-msf.org.
For more information about MSF's campaign go to www.msf.org or
www.accessmed-msf.org
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