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Blog: Best malaria treatment too expensive in Uganda
10 Nov 2008 10:22:08 GMT
 Source: IRIN

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•  Health and diseases

•  Malaria

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NAIROBI, 10 November 2008 (IRIN) - Few people in Uganda use the most effective treatment for malaria, a deadly but entirely curable disease, because it is too expensive in private pharmacies and often out of stock in public health care facilities, according to a new report.

According to this study of the Ugandan market conducted by the country's Ministry of Health and the Medicines for Malaria Venture (MMV), of the 174 anti-malaria drugs found to be available, only 15 percent were artemisinin combination therapies (ACT), which are recommended as first line treatment by the World Health Organization.

In rural Uganda when people fall ill, they tend first to visit the local pharmacy rather than a government health centre. But according to this report, only 9 percent of private sector outlets even stock ACT. Drugs such as chloroquine and sulphadoxine-pyrimethamine, sometimes a hundredth of the price of ACT, were found to be widely available, but are much less effective because the parasites that cause malaria have grown resistant to them.

In an effort to make ACT more available in Uganda, the government has launched a pilot subsidisation project.

A summary of the MMV/Ministry of Health report's findings can be found here.

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A Karamojong mother waits for the immunisation of her child in Moroto district 561 km (336 miles) north-east of Uganda's capital Kampala October 1, 2008. Some 100 children under 5 years ...


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Last updated:Mon Nov 10 10:22:42 2008