Rural areas to get anti-malaria drugs
Oct 06, 2007
THE Ministry of Health is designing a programme to ensure that effective and affordable anti-malarial drugs are available in rural areas.
By fred Ouma
THE Ministry of Health is designing a programme to ensure that effective and affordable anti-malarial drugs are available in rural areas.
The ministry, together the Medicines for Malaria Venture, is to provide high-quality subsidised artemisinin-based combination therapies to the most vulnerable population in collaboration with the private sector.
The move comes as drugs like chloroquine have become ineffective against malaria and are being phased out.
Dr. John Bosco Rwakimari, the head of the National Malaria Control Programme, said a study had been conducted in seven selected districts in eastern and western Uganda.
“This initiative will benefit Uganda tremendously,†Rwakimari told donors and representatives of the pharmaceutical industry in Kampala recently.
“Our people are dying of a preventable and curable disease because of lack of effective and affordable drugs. This joint intervention might just be the light at the end of the tunnel as we plan to roll out to other districts,†he added.
The president of the Medicines for Malaria Venture, Dr Chris Hentschel, expressed optimism that the initiative would go a long way in improving the welfare of Ugandans, especially the rural poor.
“The success of this initiative will assure us that the new anti-malarial were are working so hard to develop will be delivered to those whose lives are scarred by this deadly disease.â€
Malaria continues to be the leading cause of death and morbidity in Africa, killing a child every 30 seconds, according to the World Health Organisation.
In Uganda, the mosquito-spread disease claims between 70,000 and 110,000 lives a year, about 320 daily.
THE Ministry of Health is designing a programme to ensure that effective and affordable anti-malarial drugs are available in rural areas.
The ministry, together the Medicines for Malaria Venture, is to provide high-quality subsidised artemisinin-based combination therapies to the most vulnerable population in collaboration with the private sector.
The move comes as drugs like chloroquine have become ineffective against malaria and are being phased out.
Dr. John Bosco Rwakimari, the head of the National Malaria Control Programme, said a study had been conducted in seven selected districts in eastern and western Uganda.
“This initiative will benefit Uganda tremendously,†Rwakimari told donors and representatives of the pharmaceutical industry in Kampala recently.
“Our people are dying of a preventable and curable disease because of lack of effective and affordable drugs. This joint intervention might just be the light at the end of the tunnel as we plan to roll out to other districts,†he added.
The president of the Medicines for Malaria Venture, Dr Chris Hentschel, expressed optimism that the initiative would go a long way in improving the welfare of Ugandans, especially the rural poor.
“The success of this initiative will assure us that the new anti-malarial were are working so hard to develop will be delivered to those whose lives are scarred by this deadly disease.â€
Malaria continues to be the leading cause of death and morbidity in Africa, killing a child every 30 seconds, according to the World Health Organisation.
In Uganda, the mosquito-spread disease claims between 70,000 and 110,000 lives a year, about 320 daily.