Malaria- Millions die due to high drug prices
Dec 20, 2009
NEARLY a million people die from malaria each year because they cannot afford the most effective treatment and opt to buy drugs to which the malaria parasite has become resistant, researchers said recently. <br>
NEARLY a million people die from malaria each year because they cannot afford the most effective treatment and opt to buy drugs to which the malaria parasite has become resistant, researchers said recently.
Artemisinin combination therapy (ACT), drugs made by firms such as Novartis and Sanofi- Aventis can cost as much as 65 times the daily minimum wage in some African countries, according to a study by Populations Services International (PSI) Malaria.
ACTs can cost up to sh21,000, while the less effective drugs cost about sh600. “With most people accessing anti-malarial medication through the private sector, price becomes a critically important barrier,†said Desmond Chavasse, director of Populations Services International.
“A full course of an adult treatment of ACT can be up to 65 times the minimum daily wage. This provides an overpowering incentive (for patients) to make the wrong anti-malarial choice.â€
Children account for about 90% of the deaths in the sub-Saharan Africa and parts of Asia — the worst affected areas. Chavasse was speaking to reporters from Nairobi, where he was at an international malaria conference to present a study called ACT watch — a research project by PSI and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine on the malaria drugs market across six sub-Saharan African countries and Cambodia.
The study looked at availability, pricing and volumes for 23,000 malaria treatments sourced from 20,000 outlets. In most countries, ACTs make up only five to 15% of the total volume of anti-malarials on the market.
According to the study, the majority of malaria endemic countries changed their treatment policies about three years ago to favour giving ACT drugs in the face of widespread malaria resistance to older monotherapy medicines.
But Chavasse said, ACT availability can still be as low as 20 percent in public sector health clinics. Malaria experts hope a sh445b Affordable Medicines Facility for malaria scheme launched in April by the Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria will drastically cut the price of ACTs.
The plan is being offered to Benin, Cambodia, Ghana, Kenya, Madagascar, Uganda, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Tanzania and Niger, to cut prices to about sh500.
Reuters
Artemisinin combination therapy (ACT), drugs made by firms such as Novartis and Sanofi- Aventis can cost as much as 65 times the daily minimum wage in some African countries, according to a study by Populations Services International (PSI) Malaria.
ACTs can cost up to sh21,000, while the less effective drugs cost about sh600. “With most people accessing anti-malarial medication through the private sector, price becomes a critically important barrier,†said Desmond Chavasse, director of Populations Services International.
“A full course of an adult treatment of ACT can be up to 65 times the minimum daily wage. This provides an overpowering incentive (for patients) to make the wrong anti-malarial choice.â€
Children account for about 90% of the deaths in the sub-Saharan Africa and parts of Asia — the worst affected areas. Chavasse was speaking to reporters from Nairobi, where he was at an international malaria conference to present a study called ACT watch — a research project by PSI and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine on the malaria drugs market across six sub-Saharan African countries and Cambodia.
The study looked at availability, pricing and volumes for 23,000 malaria treatments sourced from 20,000 outlets. In most countries, ACTs make up only five to 15% of the total volume of anti-malarials on the market.
According to the study, the majority of malaria endemic countries changed their treatment policies about three years ago to favour giving ACT drugs in the face of widespread malaria resistance to older monotherapy medicines.
But Chavasse said, ACT availability can still be as low as 20 percent in public sector health clinics. Malaria experts hope a sh445b Affordable Medicines Facility for malaria scheme launched in April by the Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria will drastically cut the price of ACTs.
The plan is being offered to Benin, Cambodia, Ghana, Kenya, Madagascar, Uganda, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Tanzania and Niger, to cut prices to about sh500.
Reuters