From: Catherine Borden <[log in to unmask]> Reply-To: [log in to unmask] To: [log in to unmask] Subject: [WASAN] The high cost of malaria deaths - SciDev.net The high cost of malaria deaths 16 January 2004 Source: The Lancet Outdated drugs are helping fuel a rise in malaria worldwide, according to an international group of experts writing in The Lancet. They say that although effective treatments are available, pressure on the World Health Organisation (WHO) to cut costs means that the vast majority of patients are given old treatments — to which many are now resistant. Through its Roll Back Malaria campaign, the WHO aims to halve deaths from the disease — which kills a million people a year — by 2010. But it acknowledges that the burden of malaria is increasing. While the WHO itself recommends the newer artemisinin-class combination therapies (ACT), which can successfully treat 90 per cent of more of patients, these are costly in comparison to the older drugs such as chloroquine. Poor countries asking the WHO-backed Global Fund to pay for ACT are often refused, and forced to accept the older drugs, say the authors. Tens of thousands of children are dying every year as a direct result of these decisions, they say. The group is calling for the WHO to publish guidelines for treatment. Link to opinion article in The Lancet* * Free registration is required to view this article Reference: The Lancet 363, 237 (2004) http://www.scidev.net/Opinions/index.cfm?fuseaction=readOpinions&itemid=227&language=1 We periodically meet the fourth Wednesday of the month. For a calendar of local Africa events see http://www.ibike.org/africamatters/calendar.htm . To post a message: [log in to unmask] To subscribe send a message to [log in to unmask] To unsubscribe send a message to [log in to unmask] . All past postings are archived at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/wa-afr-network ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~--> Buy Ink Cartridges or Refill Kits for your HP, Epson, Canon or Lexmark Printer at MyInks.com. Free s/h on orders $50 or more to the US & Canada. http://www.c1tracking.com/l.asp?cid=5511 http://us.click.yahoo.com/mOAaAA/3exGAA/qnsNAA/DKgolB/TM ---------------------------------------------------------------------~-> Yahoo! Groups Links To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/wa-afr-network/ To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [log in to unmask] Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ To Search in the Gambia-L archives, go to: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/CGI/wa.exe?S1=gambia-l To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to: [log in to unmask] To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~