[afro-nets] UN Urges to Fund Anti-Malaria Fight to Save Millions

[Claudio Schuftan <claudio@hcmc.netnam.vn>]

UN Urges Donor Countries, Drug Firms to Fund Anti-Malaria Fight
to Save Millions
---------------------------------------------------------------

With more than 600 million people, mostly children in sub-
Saharan Africa, facing the daily threat of death from malaria
since new treatments are unavailable where they live, the United
Nations today called on donor countries and pharmaceutical firms
to provide the resources necessary to conquer new drug-resistant
strains.

"At least one million children die every year in Africa from ma-
laria. Several million more become seriously ill. In many
places, they are still given medicines whose effectiveness is
very low and decreasing," the Director-General of the Geneva-
based UN World Health Organization
http://www.who.int/mediacentre/en/ (WHO), Lee Jong-wook, said.
"Better treatment is available and must be delivered urgently to
the people who need it most."

Adding her voice to the appeal ahead of Africa Malaria Day on
April 25, UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) Executive Director Carol
Bellamy said powerful new drugs can make the difference between
life and death for hundreds of millions. "If the private and
public sectors work together effectively, we can quickly reshape
the marketplace for malaria drugs and take a great leap toward
rolling back malaria," she declared.

The main challenge is that chloroquine, the least expensive and
most widely used anti-malarial drug, has lost its effectiveness
in much of Africa. In recent years, a new more expensive treat-
ment called artemisinin-containing combination therapy (ACT) has
emerged to fight the disease in those regions.

Since 2001, WHO has strongly recommended that affected countries
should switch to ACTs, but at around $2 for an adult dose, this
costs 10 to 20 times as much as chloroquine. For most countries
in Africa, external funding will be required.

WHO estimates that global demand for ACTs will soar from about
20 million per year at present to between 130 to 220 million
adult treatments next year. In following years and at the cur-
rent price, about $1 billion per year will be required to pro-
vide 60 per cent of the affected population. Much of this money
will have to come from donor countries and funding institutions
such as the Global Fund.

Using its global supply network to play a lead role in the bat-
tle, UNICEF called on pharmaceutical firms, too, to get behind
the initiative.


--
WHO, UNICEF Call for New Malaria Treatments in Africa

Source U.N.Wire:
http://www.unwire.org/UNWire/20040423/449_23140.asp
Friday, April 23, 2004



More than 600 million people, most of them children in sub-
Saharan Africa, are vulnerable to malaria because existing drugs
no longer work and they do not have access to new, improved
medicines, the World Health Organization said yesterday.

"Existing, cheaper medicines which have been used for many
years, are no longer effective in most places because the ma-
laria parasite has developed a resistance to them," WHO said in
a statement ahead of Sunday's Africa Malaria Day.

Artemisinin-based combination therapies (ACTs) offer an effec-
tive cure for malaria, but at $2 per dose ­ 10 to 20 times that
of the cost of the old medicines ­ the drugs have not become
widely available (Agence France-Presse/News24.com, April 23).

Five African countries and the Tanzanian island of Zanzibar have
started using ACTs, however, since the Global Fund to Fight
AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria started to make significant funds
available in 2002. The countries are Burundi, Mozambique, Sene-
gal, South Africa and Zambia.

In the past year, eight other countries in Africa have made ACTs
available in their antimalarial treatments policies ­ Benin,
Cameroon, Comoros, Gabon, Ghana, Equatorial Guinea, Kenya and
Sao Tome and Principe ­ and Tanzania has spread its use beyond
Zanzibar. Others may follow suit this year, WHO said, and it ex-
pects that the global demand for ACTs will soar from about 20
million per year to between 130 and 220 million adult treatments
in 2005.

Countries will require significant donor support if they are to
make the switch, however. The U.N. health agency estimates that
$1 billion will be required per year to provide 60 percent of
those in need with ACTs, and much of it will have to come from
the Global Fund and donor countries.

"Some countries are still reluctant to adopt ACT treatment poli-
cies because it is much more expensive than conventional thera-
pies. Countries feel insecure about the sustainability of donor
support as they switch to more costly treatment regimes," said
Jack Chow, assistant director general at WHO for HIV/AIDS, tu-
berculosis and malaria. "However, the progress we have witnessed
over the last 12 months is remarkable in terms of its speed and
the number of countries changing their policies" (WHO release,
April 22).

UNICEF also called on donor nations yesterday to help African
countries make the switch to ACTs.

"We cannot allow people to die just because they are poor and
can't afford the best drugs available," said UNICEF Executive
Director Carol Bellamy. "If we can ensure that countries in need
have the funds needed to purchase the drugs in the long-term,
the manufacturers will have the reliable market they need to
produce more drugs."

Malaria is responsible for the deaths of more than 1 million
children annually, UNICEF said, 90 percent of them in sub-
Saharan Africa (UNICEF release, April 22).