MALARLIFE •NEWS WHO urges countries to act on new anti-resistance malaria
medicines 22 February 2003
"The cheapest and most readily available medicines are
increasingly ineffective. That's why the World Health Organization (WHO) in
its programme to Roll Back Malaria is urging countries to switch to
a new type of combination therapy when there is strong evidence that existing
conventional medicines are no longer working.
The Artemisinin-Based Combination Therapies (ACTs) are derived in part from
a Chinese herb and are the most exciting prospect in new malaria treatments.
They kill the malaria parasite very fast, allowing the patient to recover rapidly,
and with very few side effects.
Because ACTs combine two medicines which work in different ways, it is unlikely
that the malaria parasite – which has rapidly developed resistance to
other, single treatments – would evolve to resist these medicine combinations."
