E-drug: Use of antimalarial drugs for standby treatment
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Dear E-drug subscribers
I work as a short term consultant to a malaria control program in Vietnam.
A popular malaria reduction strategy in some Districts is to supply people
at "high risk of malaria" with antimalarial drugs, supposedly as a standby
treatment. Chloroquin and/or the Fansidar equivalents are the drugs mainly
used. My concern is that the strategy is used yet little or no data is
available by which to evaluate the efficiency or effectiveness of the
strategy to reduce risk of malaria morbidity or mortality. Sometimes the
drugs appear not to be kept as standby treatments but are consumed prior
to the person going to a risk area eg to the forest.
My questions regarding the experience of others are:
Is the use of standby treatments used in other countries as a risk
reduction strategy?
If so, is the strategy promoted actively or is it left up to individuals to
seek drugs prior to travelling from their home?
What drugs are mainly used in this strategy and what is the criteria for
selection?
Do people actually use the drugs when they get a "fever" or do people take
a treatment course before going to a higher risk area?
What follow-up of people given standby treatments eg whether the drugs
were used etc, is the norm?
Do others have experience regarding the packaging and labelling of standby
treatments?
What community education is related to the use of standby treatments as a
risk reduction strategy?
Is there any reports of good studies that have for example determined how
long a person is protected from Pf malaria after they have taken 3 Fansidar
or equivalent, or whether standby treatments are better or worse than
prophylaxis drug treatment as a risk reduction strategy etc ??
Any comments from the experience of others would be most welcome
Regards
Phillip Passmore
Phillip Passmore PhD
Director
P.S.M. International Pty Ltd
PO Box 392
Como 6152
Western Australia
Telephone 61 8 93674661
Fax 61 8 93674662
email psmint@iinet.net.au
---Note from the moderator
For specific tropical disease questions one could also consider posting
this type of question to the list: tdr-scientists@usa.healthnet.org
or tdr-scientists@who.ch
Wilbert Bannenberg
E-drug moderator
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