[afro-nets] New WHO publication on malaria

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

New WHO publication on malaria
------------------------------

For your information, a new WHO publication on malaria:

Guidelines for the Treatment of Malaria
ISBN 92 4 154694 8, Order Number 11500662
Price CHF 25.00 / US$ 22.50
Price for developing countries: CHF 17.50
English 2006
Will be published in French

Free internet access

Download as Adobe PDF file (266 pp. 1.2 MB) at:
http://www.who.int/malaria/docs/TreatmentGuidelines2006.pdf

WHO e-commerce site to purchase a printed copy online or obtain
information on other ordering channels:
http://www.who.int/bookorders


Summary

Malaria is an important cause of death and illness in children
and adults in tropical countries. Mortality, currently estimated
at over a million people per year, has risen in recent years,
probably due to increasing resistance to antimalarial medicines.
Malaria control requires an integrated approach comprising pre-
vention including vector control and treatment with effective
antimalarials.The affordable and widely available antimalarial
chloroquine which was in the past a mainstay of malaria control
is now ineffective in most falciparum malaria endemic areas, and
resistance to sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine is increasing rapidly.
The discovery and development of the artemisinin derivatives in
China, and their evaluation in South-East Asia and other regions
have provided a new class of highly effective antimalarials, and
have already transformed the chemotherapy of malaria in south-
east Asia. Artemisinin-based combination treatments (ACTs) are
now generally considered as the best current treatment for un-
complicated falciparum malaria.

These treatment guidelines recommend antimalarials for which
there is adequate evidence of efficacy and safety now, and which
are unlikely to be affected by resistance in the near future.
Much of the world's symptomatic malaria is treated in peripheral
health centres or remote villages, where facilities are limited.
The aim is therefore to provide simple and straightforward
treatment recommendations based on sound evidence that can be
applied effectively in most settings. The purpose of this docu-
ment is to provide comprehensible, global, evidence-based guide-
lines to help formulate policies and protocols for the treatment
of malaria. Information is presented on the treatment of uncom-
plicated malaria, including disease in special groups (young
children, pregnant women, people who are HIV positive, travel-
lers from non-malaria endemic regions) and in complex emergency
situations and severe malaria. The guidelines do not deal with
preventive uses of antimalarials, such as intermittent preven-
tive treatment or chemoprophylaxis.

The guidelines are aimed primarily at policy-makers in minis-
tries of health. Public health and policy specialists working in
hospitals, ministries, nongovernmental organizations and primary
health care services as well as health professionals (doctors,
nurses and paramedical officers) should also find them useful.

Maryvonne Grisetti
Genva, Switzerland
mailto:grisettim@who.int