Uganda aims to combat malaria with new treatment
A child suffering from malaria lies on a bed at the hospital of Nyarugusu, in north west of Tanzania, on June 11, 2015. AFP PHOTO/STEPHANIE AGLIETTI *** Local Caption *** A CHILD SUFFERING FROM MALARIA LIES ON A BED AT THE HOSPITAL IN NYARUGUSU IN NORTHWEST TANZANIA NOT LONG AFTER THE START OF THE THIRD INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON FINANCING FOR DEVELOPMENT, THE U.N. AND ITS PARTNERSHAVE ALREADY BEGUN LAUNCHING COMMITMENTS AND INITIATIVES. WITHIN THE FIRST DAY OF THE CONFERENCE, GLOBAL LEADERS, GATHERED IN THE ETHIOPIAN CAPITAL ADDIS ABABA, HAVE LAUNCHED A NEW INITIATIVE TO END MATERNAL AND CHILD MORTALITY BY 2030.
Health workers from Uganda are hoping medicine recently approved by Swiss medical regulators will save the lives of many infants in the face of malaria according to Associated Press on August 20th.
Across the African continent, the mosquito-borne disease has been difficult to contain and, especially for newborns and infants, difficult to treat.
There were an estimated 597,000 malaria-related deaths worldwide, with 95% of those deaths reported from Africa, and three-quarters of those deaths were children.
Specifically, Uganda had 16,000 malaria-related deaths in 2023, with many being children and pregnant women.
However, the Basel-based pharmaceutical company Novartis recently had medicine approved for cases involving babies weighing between 2 and 5 kilograms.
This development provides an urgent boost within public healthcare in Africa, with the spectre of US President Trump’s aid cuts threatening to impact specific anti-malaria efforts in countries such as Uganda, as well as jeopardising HIV research and treatment development in sub-Saharan African countries.
The treatment, a sweet-tasting tablet that disperses into a syrup when dropped into water, was approved in coordination with the World Health Organization in an attempt to fast-track treatments for developing countries.
Up until now, antimalarial drugs for older children had to be administered to small infants with careful adjustments, but the introduction of Coartem Baby as it is known, will provide much-needed relief to local health workers and make treatments far more accessible.
Ronald Serufusa, the top malaria official for the district Wakiso, believes Coartem Baby will be available “very, very soon” for local health authorities to administer, adding that health workers need to ensure they “expand their investigations” when treating newborns to always suspect malaria.
Uganda have suffered other public health concerns alongside malaria this year, with a mini-outbreak of Ebola leading to the passing of a 4-year-old child, and with funding shortages exacerbating health concerns, the Swiss-backed treatment cannot come soon enough.
Associated Press, Maghrebi.org
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