Government launches new malaria medicine

The government of Burundi launched a new malaria treatment, a combination therapy of artesunate and amodiaquine, on Monday, and announced the stoppage of chloroquine and fansidar, which have become resistant to the disease.

"The new medicine will be available in all public hospitals and health centres," Dr Jean Kamana, the health minister, said during the official launch in the capital, Bujumbura.

"We will do whatever possible to have sufficient stocks so that private hospitals and pharmacies should get their supplies from our stock," he said.

He said the new therapy was being introduced after studies showed that chloroquine and fansidar had failed to cure more than 25 percent of patients.

"Studies done on the molecules originating from artesinine, a combination of artesunate and amodiaquine, show that the combination of the two medicines was powerful in more than 95 percent of patients," he said.

He added that the government would avail the drugs at affordable prices because they were expensive in private pharmacies. Artesunate costs between 6,000 and 7,000 francs (US $6 and $7), and amodiaquine costs a similar amount, he said.

UNICEF said that the launch of the new medicine was part of the global "Roll Back Malaria Plan", and that Burundi was one of the first countries in Africa to introduce the therapy.

The agency reported on Tuesday that it, together with WHO, was helping the government introduce the treatment, which is supported by several donors such as the Belgium government, the EU, the British Foreign Development and Assistance Office and the US Agency for International Development (USAIDS).

"We took into account the economic situation of the population, our people are very poor, the economy has been affected by the war; the government is going to subsidise," Kamana said.

He added that the government would mobilise funds from its traditional donor partners, including the Belgium, the EU, the UN Children's Fund, the UN World Health Organization, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs and NGO such as Medecins Sans Frontieres and others, to fight malaria.

A dose of the new medicine for children aged under five years costs 100 francs ($0.1) and 200 francs ($0.2) for adults and children aged more than five years. "It is an obligation, all hospital attendants must respect this decision," Kamana said.

Malaria is the leading cause of mortality in Burundi, killing more people than AIDS or war. At least 50 percent of medical consultations in the country concern malaria patients. It is particularly common in pregnant women and children aged under five years, especially those living in camps for the displaced.