30 million mosquito nets for Nigeria

The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, in its largest-ever malaria initiative, will provide 30 million long-lasting treated mosquito nets to Nigeria.  This initiative will provide the African nation with half the nets needed to cover its entire population.
The Global Fund’s “unprecedented commitment to Nigeria, which bears one quarter of the global malaria [...]

Malaria parasite’s resistance to top drug grows

Artemisinin, derived from the sweet wormwood shrub, is the best drug available but misuse and over-prescription have led to the parasite becoming resistant to it. Counterfeit antimalarial drugs have also been a major cause of deaths.

Mapping out the fight against malaria

One of the biggest challenges in the fight against malaria is knowing where to hand out the nets since not all mosquitoes transmit the disease. Researchers at the University of Ottawa are using satellite mapping to better direct the distribution of aid resources.
To generate their maps of malaria-risk areas, the scientists use a process called [...]

Counterfeit malaria drugs kill thousands in Africa

MediaGlobal (a global news agency, based in the United Nations Secretariat) recently reported on the WHO’s increasing efforts to combat counterfeit medications in Africa — and the deadly impact of these fakes.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has stepped up their efforts to combat the creation and distribution of counterfeit malaria pills in Africa.  WHO estimates [...]

Innovative mobile application helps fight fake drugs

mPedigree is a mobile application that allows users to text-message at no cost, a quality-authentication code found on the packaging of anti-Malarial and other medications to a provisioned mobile shortcode in order to guard against counterfeit drugs believed to be responsible for an alarming number of deaths, especially in the developing world.
With the mounting cost [...]

UNDOC report on counterfeit medicines in Africa

Angie Drakulich blogged yesterday about a new report from the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), which highlights that West Africa has “increasingly become the target of a range of counterfeit medications, including antibiotics, antiretroviral drugs and medicines to fight malaria and tuberculosis.”
The high demand for these types of drugs in West Africa and [...]

Report on the spread of fake drugs in poor countries

The global trade in fake medicines is vast and growing, according to a newly released report by IPN (Keeping it real:  combating the spread of fake drugs in poor countries).  The spread of fake medicines results in millions of people unwittingly consuming cement, talcum powder, sawdust, paint and an array of other toxic or inert substances.  It [...]

World Malaria Day – recognizing health progress and ongoing challenges

 World Malaria Day  (April 25) is a day of unified commemoration of the global effort to provide effective control of malaria around the world.  This year’s World Malaria Day marks a critical moment in time.  The international malaria community has merely two years to meet the 2010 targets of delivering effective and affordable protection and treatment [...]

New Partnership aims to deliver affordable, effective malaria drugs to the poor

A new international partnership, backed by the United Nations, hopes to put affordable malaria drugs within reach of millions of people, especially children, in sub-Saharan Africa and Asia.
The rationale behind The Affordable Medicines Facility for malaria, as the new initiative is known, will be to reduce the price of effective new therapies (artemisinin combination therapies [...]

Tanzania pays price for cheap knockoffs

National Public Radio’s Marketplace – a public radio program in the U.S. - recently reported on the prevalence — and danger — of countefeit products in Africa.  The prices are cheap, but the long term economic and public health costs can be high.  The following is an excerpt from the transcript:
Listen to the full report
Tanzania has an [...]