Meeting on anti-malaria drugs held(Centre Spread) June 2, 2008

Story: Michael Donkor
A stakeholders meeting to develop and deliver new anti-malaria drugs through effective public-private partnerships has ended in Accra.
The meeting was attended by distinguished personalities including former President of Mozambique, Mr Joaquim Chissano; Baroness Chalker, chair of Medicines for Malaria Venture (MMV) board of directors and the Minister of Health, Major Courage Quashigah (retd).
The meeting organised by MMV, a non-profit organisation, was dedicated to reducing the burden of malaria in disease-endemic countries by discovering, developing and facilitating the delivery of effective and affordable anti-malaria drugs.
The Vice-President of MMV, Mrs Anna Wang, said Ghana planned to introduce two new anti-malarial drugs by 2010 for the treatment of malaria.
She said the drugs were Coartem Dispersible, which is specially designed for children, and Pyramax for adults.
According to Mrs Wang, the drug for children easily dissolves in water and has a sweet flavour while the one for adults would be taken once a day for three days.
She added that the Spanish government had made available a three million euro grant to expand the distribution of affordable drugs and resources worldwide.
Major Quashigah said malaria was plunging many African countries including Ghana into poverty.
He said further that in countries where malaria was endemic, income levels were lower compared to countries with no malaria.
He says every year, the government spends GH¢664 million in the fight against malaria, adding that the amount formed 10 per cent of the country’s GDP growth.
Major Quashigah said this included the prevention and treatment of malaria and that the vast majority of people treating malaria through the use of herbal medicines were not included in this category.
Mr Chissano urged African leaders to support the fight against malaria in the region.
He said one could not talk of peace while diseases such as malaria and HIV/AIDS as well as malnutrition continued endemic in the region. He observed that under-funding and lack of research had undermined efforts to reduce malaria in the region.
He added that Africa still had a long way to go in the eradication of malaria and called for concerted efforts to battle the disease.
Some institutions were given awards for their efforts in the fight against malaria. They were Norvatis Institute, which was given an award for their exemplary work in the development of Coartem Dispersible while the MMV Annual Project of 2007 award went to the Eskitis Institute of Griffith University in Australia for their innovative use of technology and progress to identify malaria targets from natural products.