Reasonable Rascal
05-09-02, 23:44
From the Harvard ProMed List.
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Geneva -Tackling rising levels of medicine resistance is one of the key challenges to African States in their efforts to control malaria and meet the declared target of saving the lives of half the 800 000 young children who die of the disease every year by 2010.
The cheapest and most readily available medicines are increasingly ineffective. That's why the World Health Organization (WHO) in its programme to Roll Back Malaria is urging countries to switch to a new type of combination therapy when there is strong evidence that existing conventional medicines are no longer working.
The atemisinin-based combination is part of the new term Available Combination Therapies, (ACTs). The artemisinin derivatives has been developed from a Chinese herb and are the most exciting prospect in new malaria treatments. They kill the malaria parasite very fast, allowing the patient to recover rapidly, and with very few side effects.
Because ACTs combine 2 medicines that work in different ways, it is unlikely that the malaria parasite, which has rapidly developed resistance to other single treatments would evolve to resist these medicine
combinations.
The Board of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB, and Malaria, meeting in New York, have decided to fund proposals to Roll Back Malaria in Zanzibar and Zambia. These proposals include purchasing and phasing-in the use of new ACTs.
"We hope that the Fund and other funding mechanisms will be used to purchase ACTs where they are needed to treat malaria and improve the control of the disease in communities at risk," Dr Gro Harlem Brundtland, Director-General of WHO. "WHO has worked with a variety of partners including the manufacturers to reduce the price of ACTs in developing countries. It is important that countries which need ACTs are able to access and use them in a sustainable manner."
For decades, the best known treatment for malaria was chloroquine, an inexpensive medicine that has saved millions of lives. However, in recent years, the malaria parasite has developed resistance to chloroquine and so, in many countries, it is no longer an effective treatment. As a result, many countries have moved to sulphadoxine-pyrimethamine, known as SP or Fansidar, as first-line treatment. However, resistance to SP is also spreading.
WHO recommends that countries begin the transition as soon as levels of resistance exceed 15 percent and that the change will be implemented before resistance reaches 25 percent.
All WHO Press Releases, Fact Sheets and Features as well as other information on this subject can be obtained on Internet on the WHO home page: <http://www.who.int>
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Provided under Fair Use for Education doctrine
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Geneva -Tackling rising levels of medicine resistance is one of the key challenges to African States in their efforts to control malaria and meet the declared target of saving the lives of half the 800 000 young children who die of the disease every year by 2010.
The cheapest and most readily available medicines are increasingly ineffective. That's why the World Health Organization (WHO) in its programme to Roll Back Malaria is urging countries to switch to a new type of combination therapy when there is strong evidence that existing conventional medicines are no longer working.
The atemisinin-based combination is part of the new term Available Combination Therapies, (ACTs). The artemisinin derivatives has been developed from a Chinese herb and are the most exciting prospect in new malaria treatments. They kill the malaria parasite very fast, allowing the patient to recover rapidly, and with very few side effects.
Because ACTs combine 2 medicines that work in different ways, it is unlikely that the malaria parasite, which has rapidly developed resistance to other single treatments would evolve to resist these medicine
combinations.
The Board of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB, and Malaria, meeting in New York, have decided to fund proposals to Roll Back Malaria in Zanzibar and Zambia. These proposals include purchasing and phasing-in the use of new ACTs.
"We hope that the Fund and other funding mechanisms will be used to purchase ACTs where they are needed to treat malaria and improve the control of the disease in communities at risk," Dr Gro Harlem Brundtland, Director-General of WHO. "WHO has worked with a variety of partners including the manufacturers to reduce the price of ACTs in developing countries. It is important that countries which need ACTs are able to access and use them in a sustainable manner."
For decades, the best known treatment for malaria was chloroquine, an inexpensive medicine that has saved millions of lives. However, in recent years, the malaria parasite has developed resistance to chloroquine and so, in many countries, it is no longer an effective treatment. As a result, many countries have moved to sulphadoxine-pyrimethamine, known as SP or Fansidar, as first-line treatment. However, resistance to SP is also spreading.
WHO recommends that countries begin the transition as soon as levels of resistance exceed 15 percent and that the change will be implemented before resistance reaches 25 percent.
All WHO Press Releases, Fact Sheets and Features as well as other information on this subject can be obtained on Internet on the WHO home page: <http://www.who.int>
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Provided under Fair Use for Education doctrine