FAKE DRUGS STILL A MAJOR HINDERANCE TO FIGHT MALARIA IN AFRICA.
Posted by African Press International on May 16, 2012
- ODHIAMBO DICKSON reporting from Kisumu, Kenya
THE presence of fake drugs in the market still hinders the fight against malaria in Africa Continent.
A Ghana based Non Governmental organization known as African Media and Malaria Research Network {AMMREN} said powerful stakeholders like the African Leaders Malaria Alliance{ALMA} needs to take keen interest and deal with the issue of fake anti-malarial drugs which still hamper the fight against malaria in the continent.
AMMREN Chief Executive Secretary Charity Binka said there is serious need to
treat fake drug manufacturers and their agents with the same ruthlessness employed against dealers in narcotic drugs if the fight against malaria is to be won.
In a speech read on her behalf by the AMMREN-Kisumu Chapter Secretary Bernard Okebe during a media sensitization workshop in Kisumu on the role of AMMREN in the fight against malaria, Charity said other stakeholders
like drug enforcement agencies, custom officers, the police and drug manufacturing giants should join forces and check the issue of counterfeit
anti-malaria drugs.
“Obviously, the inability of stakeholders such as drug enforcement agencies,
custom officers, the police and drugs manufacturing giants to join forces to check this counterfeits problem can lead to a loss of confidence in orthodox medicine and compel people in poor countries to resort to herbal and unconventional solutions whether or not they have been certified to be efficacious,” Binka said.
She said the recently invented Artemisinin-based Therapies {ACTs}, which is a
combination of drugs to fight the malarial disease, is also being faked and the
trend is really worrying. She added that the continued existence of taxes and tariffs in commodities for malaria control exposes the half-hearted approach to tackle the disease by the very countries susceptible to it.
“The taxes and tariffs on commodities for malaria control make these life-saving products unaffordable to the poor and vulnerable and this exposes the
half-hearted approach to take malaria by the very countries susceptible to the disease,” the Executive Secretary added.
Binka further said that while the whole world is still waiting with bated breath for the first malaria vaccine which will be rolled out in 2015, full support must be given to other ongoing interventions such as the Affordable Medicines Facility for Malaria {AMFm} which is a brilliant idea to expand access to the most effective treatment for malaria under the ACTs at an affordable price.
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