Battle against malaria slowing down, WHO warns

Posted on December 18th, 2012 by AFP

The fight against malaria has slowed in the past two years, threatening to reverse progress in combatting one of the world’s biggest killers, the World Health Organisation warned Monday.

Funding for efforts to prevent the deadly mosquito-borne disease increased sharply between 2004 and 2009, part of an ongoing drive that has saved more than a million lives in the past decade, but has since levelled off, the UN’s health body said.

“Millions of people living in highly endemic areas continue to lack access to effective malaria prevention, diagnostic testing and treatment,” it said in a statement.

In its annual World Malaria Report, the WHO pointed out that last year, only $2.3 billion (1.75 billion euros) went towards fighting malaria globally — less than half the estimated $5.1 billion needed.

“The funding for malaria is not enough,” Richard Cibulski of the WHO’s Global Malaria Programme told reporters in Geneva, cautioning there could be a resurgence of the disease in coming years.

The slowdown was regrettable in light of progress made in the preceding decade, WHO said, pointing out that between 2000 and 2010, the global malaria mortality rate plunged 26 percent, while it fell a full 33 percent in Africa, saving an estimated 1.1 million lives.

In 2010, an estimated 219 million people were infected with the disease and some 660,000 died, the UN agency said, revising up slightly its previous estimate for that year.

It did not provide any figures for 2011 or 2012.

Reduced funding for fighting the preventable disease, which affects many of the world’s poorest nations and mainly kills children under the age of five, was especially regrettable since a little money spent on prevention can save a lot in subsequent healthcare costs, said Dr. Fatoumata Nafo-Traore, the head of the Roll back Malaria Partnership.

“For $1 spent, you get in return $35,” she told reporters.

For instance, WHO said that the number of special mosquito nets handed out in the worst-hit sub-Saharan African countries had fallen from 145 million in 2010 to around 66 million this year.

While malaria is widespread in tropical and sub-tropical climates and affects 99 countries, 14 countries account for around 80 percent of the deaths, the WHO said.

Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of Congo alone account for 40 percent of global malaria deaths.

Naija’s Omawumi brings malaria fight to Kenya

Posted on May 4th, 2012 by CAPITAL LIFESTYLE

Assertive Nigerian musician Omawumi visited expectant mothers at the Pumwani Maternity Hospital on Thursday, launching an education exercise on preventing malaria.

Omawumi, who is the Malaria Cause Ambassador for Mortein Doom, appealed to the mothers to join her in the fight against malaria, and went on to show them how to protect themselves and their families.

The main messages were: use your nets, use insecticides like Mortein and keep your environment clean.

“Although malaria related deaths in Africa have fallen by an estimated 33% since the year 2000, we have a long way to go before we can proudly announce that we have won the fight against malaria,” said the mother of one at a media briefing in Nairobi.

She explained that expectant mothers and children under the age of five remain the most vulnerable group, and communication to encourage them to take preventive measures needed to be scaled up, as African countries strive to meet the Millennium Development Goals on Malaria.

“The proper usage of the insecticide treated mosquito nets, indoor residual spraying, everyday use of Mortein Doom insecticide and taking proactive vector control measures by keeping your environment clean and free of stagnant water; are among the measures that mothers need to start implementing now,” she said.

Her visit comes as activities continue rolling out since World Malaria Day on April 25.

Among the activities was the launch of a theme song featuring mothers from Africa.

Omawumi is well known for her hit songs, If You Ask Me and Bottom Belle, which merge African music with modern pop culture.

Reckitt Benckiser’s Country Manager Richard Pereira said they were proud to have Omawumi on board.

“Through our flagship brand Mortein Doom, we have been involved in many activities aimed at helping lower the deaths attributed to malaria. With Omawumi’s appointment as our Cause Ambassador this year, I am sure we will register a more significant reduction in malaria infections going forward.”

Early signs of malaria drug resistance in Africa

Posted on April 30th, 2012 by AFP

Africa’s deadliest malaria parasite has shown resistance in lab tests to one of the most powerful drugs on the market — a warning of possible resistance to follow in patients, scientists said Friday.

Researchers in London found resistance to artemether in test tube analysis of blood from 11 of 28 patients who had fallen ill after travelling in countries mainly in sub-Saharan Africa — what they said was a “statistically significant” result.

Artemether is one of the most effective drugs in the artemisinin group most commonly used in malaria cocktails known as ACTs.

“Resistance in a test tube usually leads to resistance at some stage down the line in patients,” study leader Sanjeev Krishna told AFP of the findings published in BioMed Central publishers’ Malaria Journal.

“The question is how far down the line.”

The study did not look at the patients’ actual response to drugs, and “what that might mean in terms of treatment failure, we have yet to assess. We don’t know.”

A statement said the resistance was caused by genetic mutations in a parasite transmitted by infected mosquitoes, and meant that “the best weapons against malaria could become obsolete.”

The laboratory tests on the Plasmodium falciparum parasite, which causes the deadliest form of malaria and is responsible for 90 percent of deaths, showed artemether’s effectiveness reduced by about half in the infected samples.

“This study confirms our fears of how the parasite is mutating to develop resistance,” said Krishna, adding the genetic changes “occurred relatively recently”.

“Drug resistance could eventually become a devastating problem in Africa, and not just in east Asia where most of the world is watching for resistance.”

Sub-Saharan Africa is home to 90 percent of people killed by malaria every year.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) said Tuesday it was optimistic drug-resistant malaria that has emerged along Thailand’s borders with Cambodia and Myanmar could be contained within the region.

While global campaigning and wide distributions of mosquito nets have helped curb malaria, it is still regarded as the worst parasitic disease in the world.

The WHO says 655,000 people died of malaria in 2010, making it the world’s fifth biggest killer in low-income countries.

“What we should be doing is to use the drugs we have as effectively as we can, to make sure they are working and to stop using combinations that are not working,” said Krishna.

And the focus should be on monitoring and further research.

“We must be very alert to the risk of there being increased treatment failures,” the scientist warned.

“We need to know more, we need to know it fairly quickly.”

Gabon research centre says antimalarial drug within reach

Posted on April 27th, 2012 by AFP

A scientist at the Albert Schweitzer Hospital’s medical research unit said Wednesday that trials of a new antimalarial drug were encouraging and paved the way for licensing.

“These preliminary results are relatively encouraging and lead us to believe… that we could have something licensed,” Dr Jose Fernandez said in Libreville at an event marking World Malaria Day.

He said the drug had been in the final of three clinical trial phases for the past two years at the research centre in Lambarene, the Gabon jungle town where Nobel Peace Prize winner Schweitzer founded the hospital 99 years ago.

The RTS,S/AS01E vaccine is manufactured by British pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline and the research — which is led by the University of Tubingen — is being financed by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

Fernandez said the vaccine had achieved 56 percent protection from malaria and 46 percent against severe malaria.

While global campaigning and wide distributions of mosquito nets have helped curb malaria, it is still regarded as the worst parasitic disease in the world.

The World Health Organisation says 655,000 people died of malaria in 2010, making the mosquito-borne disease the world’s fifth biggest killer in low-income countries.

Speaking at the same event in Libreville, Gabonese Health Minister Leon Nzouba described malaria as his country’s top public health problem.

Schweitzer, who was born a German and later became French, was also a respected philosopher, organist, musicologist and theologian. He died in the hospital he founded in 1965 at the age of 90.