Health Interactive with Dr Aminu Magashi

 

Africa, Malaria and Drug Treatment

healthinteractive@hotmail.com

 

 

While waiting on Saturday, 9th April 2005 at Murtala Mohammed International Airport in Lagos to board Kenya Airline on my way to Tanzania to attend a course on Health Sector Reform , one of the flight crew handed to me the Financial Times Newspaper in Association with Business day of the Previous day  ( Friday , April , 08 , 2005 ) . On page Nine, a news item captured my attention, it was titled ‘Affordable Drug To Treat Malaria Ready Next Year written by Andrew Jack from London. In the said news, it was revealed that a powerful new treatment for Malaria at affordable price should be launched by the start of next year under a pioneering deal between one of the world’s largest commercial drug companies and Non Governmental Organization.

 

Sanofi-Aventis, a French Pharmaceutical Group announced a joint research and development agreement with Drugs for Neglected Diseases Initiative (DNDI), a Geneva based research body for a single pill combining two anti malarial drugs. In the said news, Sanofi having got a research findings from the University of Bordeaux 2 of combining two anti malarial drugs in one pill, in exchange will ensure that in the developing countries, the target price will be affordable.

 

As we are aware that, the World Health Organization has put the use of Chloroquine being the cheapest means of treating malaria in many African States and other developing countries to the back ground and is now advocating the use of a Chinese medicinal Artemisinin . In Nigeria, there are two of its product in circulation, Cortexin and Coartem   at a prize of about N 700 and N 1300 respectively per dose. Since when WHO recommmeded Artemisinin derivative as the first line of drug to cure Malaria, many of the African Ministers of Health have embrace such policy wholeheartedly and advocating for such without looking at the peculiar nature of Africa with respect to affordability and accessibility. Also quite regrettably, many of such Ministers are not fully aware as to the reason of trying to condemn Choloquine to history books. WHO is busy telling any body that cares to listen that Chloroquine is no longer effective and there is a lot of resistant parasites to the drug. The questions to asked are: Is it in all places that the drug is found to be ineffective? And what lead to the resistant? Is the resistant not due to the fact that people are abusing the drug and taking it inappropriately and they need to be enlighten on the dangers of abuse and over and/or under dosages.

 

Before, we jump to conclude that Chloroquine is no longer effective, these questions, must be answered by our Ministers of Health in Africa as well as WHO, its researchers and the Drug companies that are desperately competing to produce costly drugs at the expense of the common man and of course to use WHO in achieving their target in selling such drugs .In another angle another international organization, Population International Services( PI.S )  has join the partners of Roll Back Malaria Project in Africa , PIS is known all over the world and has carve its niche by being a major promoter and distributor of Condom through social marketing  towards prevention of HIV/AIDS and probably Pregnancy . In Nigeria its main partner,  Society for Family Health (SFH)  has also enters a partnership with Swipha, a pharmaceutical company in Lagos to be producing anti malarial drugs for children.

 

While we congratulate PIS for being a partner of Roll Back Malaria Project in Africa, however, we don’t expect such partnership to be on Drug selling , which invariably will benefit PIS, the more. Looking at what SFH is doing in Nigeria, the intervention  lacks commitment to the very children, they are trying to protect. The drug being produced for children is in Tablet form with all its bitterness  and even though a child below the age of  one year cannot take Tablet form , they expect the mother to crush such tablet in water and feed the child despite its bitterness . What is the problem of not producing the anti malarial drug in Liquid form, that way our children will use it effectively without inducing any vomiting and discomfort. The answer to that, cannot be far fetch, one does not need to be a business man or an industrialist to know that in producing the Liquid Form, it is more expensive and like wise in Shipping and Transportation, Liquid form occupies large place, which means more logistics and also when it comes to selling , it may still be cheaper.

 

From the angle of a business man, it is not a worthwhile investment, but how about from the angle of an NGO that is said to be humanitarian who claimed to have the children at heart. In essence the involvement of PIS and SFH in Roll Back Malaria in Africa and Nigeria is an opportunity to be in business while still maintaining the status of an NGO.

 

With respect to Malaria in Africa, it kills nearly a million African children under five each year, more than any other single infection. Every day 3000 children die from the disease; those who survive may suffer from Brain Damage, Paralysis, Anemia . Pregnant women and their unborn children are also especially vulnerable to Malaria, which is a major cause of Low Birth Weight, Anemia and Infant Death. Malaria costs African Countries US $ 12 Billion every year in lost Gross Domestic Product. The cost of effective malaria control in Africa would be just US $ 2 Billion per year.

 

To provide a coordinated international approach  to fighting malaria , the Roll Back Malaria Partnership was launched in 1998 by the WHO , UNICEF , UNDP and the World Bank and many bilateral partners , Private sector and NGOs and the African States with a common goal of halving the global burden of Malaria by 2010 . In that Abuja Declaration in April 2000 on RBM, four strategies were earmarked to achieve reducing the burden of malaria by 50 % by 2010

 

  1. Early diagnosis and Prompt Treatment

  2. Use of Insecticide Treated bed Nets and Mosquito Control

  3. Provision of Malaria Treatment for Pregnant women to reduce impact of malaria on their health and on the health of their children

  4. Prevention and response to epidemics

From what is happening around the Globe and in Africa , the home of Malaria , Big Businesses have hijack the Roll Back Malaria Project and the strategies  that will help Africa in achieving malaria control , which are : investing in  Environmental Sanitation and Protection and using cheaper and affordable anti malarial treatment have being condemn to the background

 

Dr Magashi is the Executive Director of Community Health and Research Initiative, Kano, Nigeria and can be reached at healthinteractive@hotmail.com