Guidelines On Malaria Drugs

THE Government has introduced new malaria treatment guidelines with a combination of chloroquine and fansidar be ing the first line of treatment in areas where resistance is high, report Richard Mutumba and Hamis Kaheru. Health minister Crispus Kiyonga told Parliament in a ministerial statement yesterday that malaria treatment guidelines had been changed in response to drugs resistance. "The new measure is as a result of the high resistance of the malaria parasites to chloroquine now estimated to range between 6 - 46%, with an average of 28%," the minister told the House. Kiyonga said the Government had also stepped up efforts to fight malaria, and had formed a malaria control unit in the Ministry of Health, with operational structures being set up at different levels down to the village. He said regional referral hospitals had been earmarked as regional malaria control coordinating centres. Malaria epidemic has swept Bundibugyo, Bushenyi, Kabale, Kabarole, Kasese, Kisoro, Mbarara, Ntungamo, Rakai and Rukungiri districts. When asked about the strike by medics in Moyo, Kiyonga said he was not aware of it. Brig. Moses Ali told him President Museveni had directed that medics' salary arrears be paid immediately. Ends