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- Feb 11, 2007
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Africa malaria drugs 'low-grade'
BBC News Online
The experts say their research threw up a disturbing trend
Africans suffering from malaria may be getting sub-standard treatment, a study by US-based experts has suggested. Researchers from the Pharmacopeia group found that between 26% and 44% of anti-malaria drugs in Uganda, Senegal and Madagascar were of poor quality.
The group, conducting the study for the World Health Organization, said low-grade drugs were being used in both public and private health practices.
Some 90% of malaria deaths in the world occur in Africa.
The experts subjected 200 samples of anti-malaria drugs to quality-control testing in a US laboratory.
They found 44% of the drugs from Senegal failed the testing, followed by 30% from Madagascar and 26% from Uganda.
Patrick Lukulay, director of the US government-funded Pharmacopeia programme, said it was a "disturbing trend".
"It is worrisome that almost all of the poor-quality data that was obtained was a result of inadequate amounts of active [ingredients] or the presence of impurities in the product," he said.
The particular problem they identified was with artemisinin-based drugs.
The chemical is one of the few affordable and effective treatments for malaria.
But the WHO's malaria programme chief Robert Newman said low-quality versions of the drug could increase resistance because they would not kill all of the parasites.
"There are a number of things that need to be done - as a global community we need to support countries in strengthening their regulatory controls," Mr Newman said.
The researchers also studied drugs from seven other countries - Cameroon, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Nigeria and Tanzania - but have not yet released data from those nations.
However, Mr Lukulay said Ghana had already withdrawn more than 20 drugs from the market after seeing initial results.
BBC News Online
The experts say their research threw up a disturbing trend
Africans suffering from malaria may be getting sub-standard treatment, a study by US-based experts has suggested. Researchers from the Pharmacopeia group found that between 26% and 44% of anti-malaria drugs in Uganda, Senegal and Madagascar were of poor quality.
The group, conducting the study for the World Health Organization, said low-grade drugs were being used in both public and private health practices.
Some 90% of malaria deaths in the world occur in Africa.
The experts subjected 200 samples of anti-malaria drugs to quality-control testing in a US laboratory.
They found 44% of the drugs from Senegal failed the testing, followed by 30% from Madagascar and 26% from Uganda.
Patrick Lukulay, director of the US government-funded Pharmacopeia programme, said it was a "disturbing trend".
"It is worrisome that almost all of the poor-quality data that was obtained was a result of inadequate amounts of active [ingredients] or the presence of impurities in the product," he said.
The particular problem they identified was with artemisinin-based drugs.
The chemical is one of the few affordable and effective treatments for malaria.
But the WHO's malaria programme chief Robert Newman said low-quality versions of the drug could increase resistance because they would not kill all of the parasites.
"There are a number of things that need to be done - as a global community we need to support countries in strengthening their regulatory controls," Mr Newman said.
The researchers also studied drugs from seven other countries - Cameroon, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Nigeria and Tanzania - but have not yet released data from those nations.
However, Mr Lukulay said Ghana had already withdrawn more than 20 drugs from the market after seeing initial results.
