Choloroquine anti-malaria treatment stopped

The Senegalese government is phasing out the use of choloroquine for treating malaria in the country, following a national survey that found the drug ineffective in 50 percent of cases studied, the head of the Senegalese National Anti-Malaria Programme, Pape Amadou Diack, said. Senegal, he added, acted in accordance with international recommendations that above a 25 percent threshold, a country can review its approach to malaria treatment. At least one million Senegalese suffer from malaria a year, of whom 8,000 die, government statistics show. Most of these are children and pregnant women. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), choloroquine is one of the anti-malaria drugs that are losing their effectiveness worldwide. Resistance to choloroquine, which is the cheapest and most widely used anti-malarials, has become common throughout Africa. Chloroquine has grown ineffective against malaria in Senegal over a 10-year period although it had been widely used in the country for 50 years, Diack said in a statement during Senegal's anti-malaria campaign on Saturday. The campaign was organised by the Senegalese Ministry of Health and the Sonatel Foundation and conducted via live television call-in programmes in several cities. It attracted thousands of people and lasted more than five hours. Some 440 million FCFA (about US $760,000) was collected for anti-malaria activities. President Abdoulaye Wade led the television discussions and helped raise the money for buying anti-malarial drugs, especially for children under five and pregnant mothers. The call-in programmes, Diack said, allowed medical authorities to sensitise the population, who listened to the show both on TV and radio. They involved discussion of proper hygiene, prevention and treatment of malaria with the organisers advocating "prevention rather than cure" as the best approach to malaria control. Malaria is widespread in Africa where it kills a child every 30 seconds. Many who survive an episode of severe malaria may suffer from learning impairments or brain damage. Pregnant women and their unborn children are particularly vulnerable. It is a major cause of death and low birth weight. According to WHO, there are at least 300 million acute cases of malaria annually in the world. But 90 percent of the resulting deaths occur in Africa where it is the leading cause of death among children under-five, accounts for 40 percent of public health expenditure, 30-50 percent of inpatient admissions and up to 50 percent of outpatient visits at health centres.