Malaria medicines to be made affordable - NMCP

Accra, April 22, GNA - Management of the National Malaria Control Programme (NMCP) on Thursday said an innovative financing mechanism to expand access to affordable Artemisinin-based Combination Therapies (ACTs= ) for the treatment of malaria would be rolled out soon. The Affordable Medicine Facility-malaria will enable beneficiary countries to increase the provision of affordable ACTS through the public=

and private sectors to help reduce inappropriate treatment. At a media briefing in Accra to commemorate World Malaria Day, which=

falls on Sunday, April 25, Mr Sylvester Segbaya, a pharmacist with NMCP explained that the measures would ensure that malaria patients would have=

access to inexpensive but effective anti-malarial treatment. The briefing was organised by the management of NMCP, to equi p and enlighten the media to step up their educational awareness on malaria. Mr Segbaya said the objective was to eliminate ineffective medicines=

from the market and introduce in-country supportive interventions to ensu= re that malaria patients benefited from the reduced price. He said the progress towards this innovation was to increase affordability, availability, and use of ACTs as well as crowding out artemisinin monotherapies. Mr Segbaya said negotiations had been completed with manufacturers t= o reduce prices of World Health Organisations (WHO) pre-qualified ACTs. Other interventions include the expansion of the ACTs to the poor an= d vulnerable include regulatory and national policy environment; providing training; supervision and support; phamacovigilance and national drug monitoring. Mr James Frimpong, a representative of NMCP said the current strateg= ies to control malaria in Ghana were the use of insecticide-treated nets for children under five years and pregnant women.

Pregnant women, he said must adopt the use of sulphadoxine-pyrimethamine in treating malaria and not Artesunate Amodiaquine for the first three months.

Mr Frimpong said an anti-malaria drug policy would achieve quick and=

long-lasting resolution of the clinical condition and reduce the incidenc= e of malaria and its accompanying complications, stop the progression of simple malaria to severe and potentially fatal diseases. This, he noted would avoid malaria related problems during pregnancy= by providing intermittent preventive treatment and in addition, minimise the=

chance and rate of developing drug resistance. Mr Frimpong said the basis for the change from chloroquine was the continuity and unacceptably high malaria cases and deaths resulting from treatment failure, poor quality of drugs on the market and general public=

dissatisfaction with the outcome of treatment.

He said studies by the Noguchi Memorial Research Centre and Korle-Bu=

Teaching Hospital showed a 25 per cent increase in resistance to chloroqu= ine and available evidence on the effective new anti-malaria drugs. Mr Frimpong said ACTs products were extracted from the plant, Artemi= sia annua recommended by WHO and other health experts and partners to reduce fever and other symptoms associated with malaria. He said they are highly potent, fast-acting, well tolerated and complementary to other classes of treatment, an indication that fever clearance was fast and people recover quickly.

Mr Frimpong observed that, the use of ACTs would reduce parasites in=

the blood, reduce gametocytes- sexual forms of the parasites, thus breaki= ng transmission. It could be administered through intravenous injection in a single -daily dose. He said there was no unpleasant odour or taste and well absorbed whe= n taken orally, no reports of severe toxicity, and less side effect. Mr Frimpong said Ghana had travelled far in the quest for an effecti= ve malaria medication as part of efforts to control the disease and improve the lot of the population. He said efforts must be made to adhere to the policies on diagnosis and treatment to sustain the gains made. 23 April 10