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Policy brief on improving access to artemisinin-based combination therapies for malaria in the East African community

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 April 2010

Harriet Nabudere ,
Gabriel L. Upunda  and
Malick Juma
Harriet Nabudere
Affiliation:
Makerere University
Gabriel L. Upunda
Affiliation:
East African Community
Malick Juma
Affiliation:
Ministry of Health, Zanzibar
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Extract

The World Health Organization (WHO) since June 1998 has advocated for the use of artemisinin-based combination therapies (ACTs) in countries where Plasmodium falciparum malaria is resistant to traditional antimalarial therapies such as chloroquine, sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine, and amodiaquine (19;22). In 2006, WHO released evidence-based guidelines for the treatment of malaria backed by findings from various scientific studies (21). During the period between 2002 and 2006, all the five East African states Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, and Burundi changed their national antimalarial treatment policies to use ACTs as first-line treatments for uncomplicated falciparum malaria and commenced with deployment of the drugs in the state-managed health facilities (12–15). To scale up the use of ACTs in the East African region to combat malaria and speed up progress toward the sixth Millennium Development Goal, a combination of delivery, financial, and governance arrangements tailored to national or subnational contexts needs to be considered.

Keywords

AntimalarialsCare accessHealth policyEast African CommunityTanzaniaKenyaUgandaRwandaBurundi
Type
THEME SECTION: OPTIONS FOR IMPROVING MALARIA TREATMENT
Information
International Journal of Technology Assessment in Health Care , Volume 26 , Issue 2 , April 2010 , pp. 255 - 259
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2010

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References

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