Cherry-Flavored Malaria Drug Launched for Kids
Sweet version of malaria drug arrives in Africa intended for kids

By RUKMINI CALLIMACHI Associated Press Writer
DAKAR, Senegal February 20, 2009 (AP)
 
Swiss pharmaceutical company Novartis is launching a new cherry-flavored malaria drug that it says children will be less likely to spit out. The child-friendly version of its Coartem malaria pill dissolves in water, as well as breast milk and tastes like fruit juice.
"If our children accept this new form (of the malaria drug) then it will mark a major step forward," said Senegalese Health Minister, Safiatou Thiam Sy.
Although malaria is preventable and treatable, it remains one of the world's biggest killers, claiming 1 million lives each year. Nine out of 10 deaths occurring in sub-Saharan Africa result from malaria - the majority are children. The World Health Organization estimates that every 30 seconds a child dies of malaria in Africa.
Hans Rietveld, director of marketing for Basel, Switzerland-based Novartis' malaria initiative, said that until now, mothers were forced to crush the anti-malarial pill and mix it with sugar in order to trick children into swallowing it. Even under a cloak of sugar, the pill still tastes bitter, making many children, especially infants, to spit it out.
Partially funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the children's version of Coartem is being launched in several African countries, including Senegal. It is being provided to participating governments for a subsidized price of 30 cents per treatment course per child — a cost that Safiatou Thiam Sy says is affordable for a majority of Africans.

Wrong drugs pull back malaria war

Gatonye Gathura & Sammy Cheboi | 30 Jun 2009 | Daily Nation

The Kenyan government is concerned about the continued use of wrong malaria drugs in the market, including its own health facilities.

Only a third of people seeking malaria treatment are getting the recommended medicine and some are even being treated with chloroquine, which was phased out almost 10 years ago.
The first ever comprehensive malaria study in Kenya, the 2007 Kenya Malaria Indicator Survey (KMIS), which was launched on Tuesday, revealed that only 29 per cent of patients received the recommended Artemesinin Combination Therapy (ACT).

Aside from chloroquine, patients are being treated with less effective, non-recommended drugs called Sulphadoxine Pyrethamine or SPs.

"It is unfortunate that these medicines are in high circulation in the drug chain," said Dr Elizabeth Juma, the head of the Division for Malaria Control in the Ministry of Public Health and Sanitation.
More alarming were findings that prescription only medicines were being sold over the counter. The report urged the Pharmacy and Poisons Board to strictly enforce laws on medicines.
The document intended to guide government policy, makes some radical proposals in the management of malaria.
In the past, patients in endemic areas showing fever symptoms have been assumed to be suffering from malaria and consequently treated for the disease.

Now, the report recommends that all children below five years, who visit health facilities with a fever, be tested and treated according to the results.
This is bound to raise debate given that most health clinics do not have the facilities and equipment to undertake such tests.

Drastic change
"For a long time, fever has been confused for malaria. The medical fraternity must lead by using evidence to administer treatment and overcome parasite resistance," said Dr Willis Akhwale, head of Department of Disease Prevention and Control.
The report, launched by the director-general of Kenya National Bureau of Statistics, Dr Anthony Kilele, at a Nairobi hotel, further recommends a drastic change in the provision of bed nets.
While the current policy is to provide nets to vulnerable groups, including children and pregnant women, the report recommends that this be changed to universal coverage.
In line with this strategy, which should be achieved by next year, every household should have at least two bed nets.

Malaria, DDT, and desperation in Uganda

Published on Saturday, June 27, 2009 by The Boston Globe
By Derrick Z. Jackson

WITH MALARIA sapping so much life and potential, Uganda has been driven to spray the interior of homes with DDT. The insecticide, made infamous by Rachel Carson's "Silent Spring,'' has long been banned in the United States for wildlife devastation; among other consequences, it made bald eagles' eggs too thin for their young to survive. But malaria here in Uganda is so intense, top officials have answered local and international DDT critics by saying, as Uganda’s Vice President Gilbert Bukenya put it, "You can start with my house. Those shouting against it are shouting ignorance. They are simply not informed.''

DDT makes me shudder. But the issue arouses great passion in sub-Saharan Africa, where access to the best drugs is woeful, and where simple home protections, such as window screens, are lacking.

Uganda, a nation of 30 million people, had an estimated 10.6 million cases of malaria in 2006, according to the World Health Organization, with 70,000 to 110,000 deaths a year, according to government and university researchers. The disease seriously hampers economic development.

At ground zero of malaria control, Abwang Bernard is so persuasive; he might get permission to spray from even Carson herself. Bernard directs malaria control in the Mbarara region. With his 6-year old son sitting by him during a 90-minute interview, there was no doubt that taking care of villagers was his chief concern.

"Why do we sit around looking for the impact on things we cannot see when we have the problem we can see right now?'' Bernard said. "We have 5-year-old children dying. Many people have four episodes of malaria a year. They miss weeks and weeks of work. They cannot feed their families. Why not protect them for their future?

"I understand the environmental arguments, but sometimes they cry so much fear, their arguments become inhuman to the people. It's almost like they want the people to perish for the animals. No chemical has any side effects. But let us first reduce infant mortality. That is the environment I care about right now.''

The government this month announced a goal of having an insecticide-treated mosquito bed net in 85 percent of households and spraying the interior of all homes in the most hard-hit of districts.
According to UNICEF, just 10 percent of 5-year-olds live in a house with an insecticide-treated net. Bernard praised the goal but was highly skeptical that it would work.

"It is part of the strategy but only a part,'' Bernard said. "Nets work when you use them right, but let's be practical here. Only so many people can get under one net, and in lots of houses, the net goes to the head of the household. So if you have only one net, it goes to you, Derrick. Your kids are still getting bit by the mosquitoes.''
Bernard said many families do not use nets because they feel claustrophobic or they stifle ventilation. The Harvard University disease researchers whom I accompanied here were told that frustrated families turn their nets into fishing nets, volleyball nets, and even wedding dresses. "Before people really start using nets,'' Bernard said, "The government is first going to have to demystify them.''

Bernard was also skeptical of new national goals for nets and malaria-fighting drugs because the economic downturn months ago slashed his home spraying schedule. He is the sprayer, but the families have to purchase the insecticide. The government says the poor may spend up to 34 percent of household income on malaria treatment.

"A year ago last quarter I sprayed indoors in 50 homes,'' Bernard said. "This past quarter, I sprayed five. In 2001, we had a big international donation and we sprayed 50 homes in a day. If we could spray the homes to get malaria under control, then may be the nets and drugs will help. If the environmentalists want to help us, they need to come here to see the total picture."