WHO calls on malaria-endemic countries to strengthen monitoring of drug efficacy

Press release from WHO's Western Pacific Region :

" MANILA, 18 November 2010 : The World Health Organization (WHO) is calling on countries to be increasingly vigilant in monitoring antimalarial drug efficacy in order to allow for early detection of artemisinin resistance. This is one among several conclusions of the “Global report on antimalarial drug efficacy and drug resistance: 2000–2010”, released today. The report is based on 1100 studies conducted by national malaria control programmes and research institutes over the ten-year period.

The report estimates that only 34% of malaria-endemic countries are complying with WHO recommendations to routinely monitor the efficacy of first- and second-line antimalarial medicines.

“A greater political commitment to support and sustain national monitoring of the efficacy of antimalarial medicines is critical to prevent a wider emergence of artemisinin resistance” said Dr Pascal Ringwald of the Drug Resistance and Containment Unit, within WHO's Global Malaria Programme and one of the report authors.

In February 2009, WHO confirmed that resistance to artemisinin had emerged on the Cambodia-Thailand border. Although patients infected were cured following treatment with an artemisinin-based combination therapy (ACT), the recovery took more time. In artemisinin-resistant areas, the high cure rates observed depend heavily on the efficacy of the non-artemisinin component of the combination."