EndMalariaInNigeria: Kenya calls for a United African response to fight Malaria

Sunday, February 17, 2019

Kenya calls for a United African response to fight Malaria

Segun Majekodunmi
An East African country Kenya has called on Sub Saharan African (SSA) to step up surveillance on malaria drug resistance in the region.

The principal investigator of malaria at Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI) Ben Andagalu said that the countries should offer oversight on quality of malaria drugs coming into the countries.

“The procurement of malaria drugs needs to be procured by a centralized agency to help save populations from accessing outdated medicine,” He told the annual scientific and health conference in Nairobi.

Andagalu told health experts that artemisinin-based combination therapies (ACT) malaria drugs that were recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO) as the first line of treatment for plasmodium falciparum malaria has started showing resistance in South East Asian countries of Myanmar, Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand.

“Africa is currently spared but historically, malaria drug resistance has originated from South East Asia and then spread to Africa,” the researcher noted.

He said that the resistance of Sulfadoxine pyrimethamine (SP), sold under the brand name Fansidar, started in South East Asia and spread to SSA save for Madagascar that still uses the drug without resistance.

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