SUBSIDIZED MALARIA DRUGS

The government will subsidize recommended malaria drugs by June this year.

The initiative, which is the result of a grant agreement between the government and the Global Fund will see a dramatic drop in the price of the drugs from a high of Ksh 600 million to an average cost of Ksh 20 million.

Public Health and Sanitation Minister Beth Mugo was quick to reassure the public that all malaria drugs bought by the government for public health facilities through the initiative were of the highest quality.

Mugo was speaking in Lugari where the national World Malaria Day was marked.

She expressed her satisfaction with the ministry's successful completion of a pilot project on the management of malaria by community health workers, adding that the ministry intends to provide treatment of malaria at the community level through the Community Strategy.

Kenya is one of seven African countries which are in the final stages of conducting research on a malaria vaccine where it is hoped that by 2013 useful information may be available to other countries on the next steps towards implementation of the malaria vaccine.

The government will meanwhile distribute 11 million mosquito nets in all parts of the country by next year.

Meanwhile the World Health Organisation is expressing concern that most malaria infections in the country are as a result of misdiagnosis.

World Health Organization country's representative Dr. Akpaba Kalu said only a small percentage of fever attacks reported in the country are symptomatic of the killer disease.

He said more needs to be done in prevention of malaria in endemic areas such as Western, Nyanza and Coast Provinces.

The WHO representative said Kenya needs to build on surveillance at the community level in order to find a local solution to malaria.

"We believe that every sector has a role to play to make this country malaria-free," said Dr. Kalu.
Malaria, a mosquito-borne infectious disease is widespread in tropical and subtropical regions, including parts of the Americas, Asia, and Africa.

Each year, there are approximately 350-500 million cases of malaria, killing between one and three million people, the majority of whom are young children in sub-Saharan Africa. Ninety percent of malaria-related deaths occur in sub-Saharan Africa.

A wide variety of antimalarial drugs are available to treat malaria. In the last 5 years, treatment of P. falciparum infections in endemic countries has been transformed by the use of combinations of drugs containing an artemisinin derivative.

Resistance has developed to several antimalarial drugs, most notably chloroquine.

Malaria transmission can be reduced by preventing mosquito bites by distribution of mosquito nets and insect repellents, or by mosquito-control measures such as spraying insecticides inside houses and draining standing water where mosquitoes lay their eggs.

Although many are under development, the challenge of producing a widely available vaccine that provides a high level of protection for a sustained period is still to be met.