The new drug was shown to be very efficient when tested on mice. Novartis is backing the effort. From the article
“The discovery comes amid two key developments in the fight against the mosquito-borne illness. Several parts of Africa are showing a decline in malaria deaths, thanks to wider use of insecticides and bed nets to ward off mosquitoes that carry the disease, as well as use of artemisinin, a potent drug.
At the same time, there are worrying signs that the malaria parasite in parts of Southeast Asia is becoming resistant to artemisinin, which is the mainstay of combination therapy for as many as 100 million patients world-wide. Resistance has already rendered some older therapies less effective.”
As resistance continues to be a concern, developing new drugs to treat malaria is critical to maintaining our advantage against the parasite. Hopefully, this new drug will serve as a new tool for victims of malaria.
Officials in areas of Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda highly susceptable to malaria outbreaks have reported ranges of 86 to 100 accuracy in their models designed to factor the temperature and rainfall of the regions into their calculations. The models have been tested over the past nine years and correctly identified hundreds of locations where outbreaks later occured.
The project was funded by the Climate Change Adaptation in Africa program, Canada’s International Development Research Centre and Britain’s Department for International Development, and was implemented by the Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI).
Local health officials and government officials are confident that with the continued cooperation of local weathermen to predict accurate rainfall and temperature variations they can budget for and prepare resources more effectively for outbreaks.
By identifying areas at greater risk to a malarial outbreak, scientists hope to reduce spraying for mosquitos during critical times and places to reduce chances that the mosquitos develop a resistance to the insecticides.
The highlands of East Africa where the studies were conducted are seen as critical areas in combatting malaria epidemics. The residents of the highland areas are at greater risk to malaria sickness because they exposed less frequently and are less immune to the sickness than residents of lower regions. Accurate prediction and preperation for possible oubreaks in regions that have been incresingly exposed to the disease could go a long way to educating residents about malaria and helping to eliminat it altogether.
Previously, it had been thought that chemicals like DEET and other repellents blocked receptors in mosquitos’ intennae limiting their ability to smell. The new research shows that mosquitos possess the ability to distinguish between certain scents and have aversions to particular smells.
Scientists at the University of Vanderbilt have identified a new set of olfactory sensors in malarial mosquitos that provide the incects with information about their environment. According to the findings, mosquitos repond infavorably to particular stimuli the way humans respond infavorably to certain smells, such as rotten food.
The new research could help scientists to develop more effective repellents to ward off malaria bearing mosquitos or even to attract the insects towards traps where they would be held or eliminated. In the fight to end malaria, new applications of science are key to improving the technology and methods for irradicating the disease.
A study to be published Thursday reports that some Malarial Drugs supplied by international donors are being stolen and are turning up on commercial markets. The report confirms what many experts have long believed to be the case involving drugs donated by international donors. Many of the millions of free drugs destined for government clinics and hospitals, are being resold instead in private pharmacies across Africa.
Overall, the study found that 6.5 percent of the medicine intended for hospitals and clinics was being found on store shelves in retail outlets. Almost 30 percent of artemesinin combination drugs, the best malaria medicine available on the market, was being resold commercially. This number is nearly double the 15% of malaria drugs reported stolen in 2007.
Research and Reports in Tropical Medicine recieved funding for the study from the Legatum Institute, a U.S. philanthropic group with no ties to drug makers. The study was conducted in 11 African cities and included 894 random samples of which 58 were found to be stolen.
Both the authors and outside experts have weighed in on the study’s findings.
The researchers admit that their sample size was small and could create an exaggerated view of the problem. Due to corruption and the inability to track drugs from their origin to their destination, it is difficult to know exactly how severe the problem is.
Outside experts, however, confirmed that the findings of the study were credible and help to publicize what they maintain is a serious problem in the fight to eliminate malaria in Africa. Disappearances of donated drugs are common according to these experts. These experts also agree that the study helps to raise awareness of the issue surrounding stolen malaria drugs in Africa.
The following post comes from Randa Kuziez, a former Tony Blair Faiths Act Fellow with the Malaria Policy Center, on her thoughts about this year’s Ramadan and a look back at her time in Africa.
During the Muslim month of Ramadan, Muslims fast from food, drink, and marital relations during the daylight hours. Ramadan is a time for transformation and spiritual cleansing, to reprioritize where one is in his or her life, where her or she wants to be, and how that is being reflected in his or her actions.
The past 22 Ramadans I’ve spent with my family fasting with an understanding from the Quran that says, “Fasting has been prescribed to you, as it has been to others before you.” I knew that, in theory, I was fasting in solidarity with those who don’t have enough food to break their fast with, and I also knew this was a month of sacrifice and humility. Despite efforts to make this a reality by extra service and charity during the month, the concept of solidarity didn’t come to fruition until last year.
Exactly one year ago today, I was in spending Ramadan in field training for the Faiths Act Fellowship in Mali with Project Muso Ladamunen. There, I felt this solidarity; to be in a place where I knew the hunger pangs of those fasting for the majority was a common practice, and not a voluntary one, as mine were. In addition, our visit to Mali occurred during the rainy season, a time when malaria infections and deaths rise significantly. On many occasions, especially the story I share below, is where I found my Ramadan call to action.
I recall a visit to Bamako’s Gabriel Toure Hospital which really put a face to those suffering from Malaria and demonstrated the sense of urgency we need in fighting this disease. While walking through the crowded rooms, the doctor told us he was seeing as many as 150 cases during the day, and 60 at night. Each room, which normally housed 4 patients in four single beds, currently had 2 to a bed, and 3 on the floor between the beds, thus 14 people shared a 4 person room. Another room, with the cases of grave malaria had over 20 patients in a coma like state, with their parents patiently waiting and praying for them, unsure of their children’s fate. As we stepped out of this room, the doctor shared with us a very painful and real statistic- around 5 or more patients passed each day in the room that we just stepped out of; the room with the praying mothers; the ones who quietly greeted us in. We felt like intruders, and they considered us guests fulfilling the Malian tradition of visiting the sick, whether we knew them or not.
I saw, right in front of me, how this preventable disease was affecting these children, their families, the entire family dynamic, and the entire country infrastructure. The doctor then reminded us that these are the families that had the means to reach or afford the treatment. A feeling of immense responsibility overtook me, and in a rush of tears I attempted to hide from the doctor, I expressed what our entire group was feeling, and the doctor gave me an answer reflecting those on the ground involved in malaria eradication. “No, Don’t lose hope, this is why we are working.” In that, he gave us a message of hope, but also a deep and urgent call to action. This is urgent, this is NOW, and it shouldn’t be happening. To us, that mosquito may have just been a nuisance, an eventual bite scar I can point to and reflect on how uncomfortable it was to constantly be bitten, but to them, it really is a potential situation of life and death. The world can’t stand by and continue to let this happen. Although that hospital visit is the one I shared, we saw a similar situation in another health clinic, and it was replicated all over the country.
I realized they were the reason why we were on this fellowship, the reason the Malaria Policy Center exists. The Faiths Act Fellowship brought together young leaders inspired by their faith to be ambassadors for the Millennium Development Goals and inspire other young people to do the same, specifically aiding in efforts to eliminate deaths attributed to malaria by 2015. Achieving this goal, Millennium Development Goal 6, would hit the targets for many of the other MDG’s.
Last year, I understood my Ramadan call to action. Now, reflecting on this experience, I invite you to take action. The goals in eliminating deaths from malaria are clearly defined, and our work will help turn that into a reality.
Across the continent, more than 30 percent of malaria medicines are estimated to be fake, and many look identical to the real thing.
Soon, Africans will be able to text message a code to a project called mPedigree that allows individuals to verify whether or not their drugs are genuine. The system is free for consumers and is paid for by pharmaceutical companies and governments.
Health officials say the innovative system could help Africa curb the tide of fake drugs and potentially save hundreds of thousands of lives. Experts think about 700,000 people die from malaria or tuberculosis every year after taking counterfeit drugs, with some containing little more than sawdust, baby powder and water. In addition, fake medicines speed up drug resistance. If a drug contains some but not enough of the active ingredient, it won’t kill the disease’s virus or bacteria, but gives it a chance to mutate into a deadlier form instead.
Authorities have seized 20,000 pounds of counterfeit medicine and arrested 80 people suspected of illegal trafficking in six East African nations. More than 300 premises were checked or raided in the two-month operation across Uganda, Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Zanzibar.
Counterfeit drugs are more than theft from the people who need medicine most. In fact, substandard drugs can increase drug resistance and counterfeit drugs can lead to death in those who believe they are taking the proper medicines when they are not.
For this reason, ensuring that these substandard and fake drugs are kept out of the market is key to maintaining drug efficiency as well as protecting individuals.
Professor Lucas believes that required early diagnosis and treatment, which the Patent Medicine Vendors (PMVs) can help support due to their nationwide coverage, will save countless lives.
National Coordinator, National Malaria Control Programme, Dr. Babajide Coker, is also calling for partnerships that would ensure the poor in the society assess malaria treatment, stated that this would be central to reducing deaths from malaria to the barest minimum.
Ensuring that African nations, like Nigeria, are able to rapidly and accurately test for malaria helps start the process of treatment for malaria or any other disease that has malaria like symptoms. We must continue to support building such capacity.
Technology Review recently had a conversation with Bill Gates about a myriad of topics, including his passion for global health.
One of the most fascinating points that Mr. Gates touches on is the fact that there used to be no market and no incentive for investment in malaria. In response, The Gates Foundation simply created one by investing massive amounts of capital in malaria and the results have been astounding.
The interview is excerpted below.
The Gates Foundation has invested in solutions to big problems like infectious diseases in poor countries. Providing clean energy for the nine billion people the planet will hold in 2050 is a problem that’s equally civilizational in scale. What can philanthropy contribute to energy research?
Well, basically not much. The energy market is an absolutely gigantic market, and the price of energy is a key determinant in improving lifestyles, whether for the rich, the middle-income, or the poorest. It seems slightly more intense for the poor: things like fertilizer and transport, or health care, are very expensive for them. You know, things like basic lighting are very expensive. But it’s a big enough market that if you come up with cheap ways of making electricity, then that should be done with typical big-firm risk taking, small-firm risk taking. On the other hand, the way capitalism works is that it systematically underfunds innovation, because the innovators can’t reap the full benefits. But there’s actually a net benefit to society being more R&D-oriented. And that’s why in health research, governments do fund R&D.
You are a member of the American Energy Innovation Council, the AEIC, which calls for a national energy policy that would increase U.S. investment in energy research every year from $5 billion to $16 billion.
Right.
I was stunned that the U.S. government invests so little.
Yeah, particularly when you look at the DOE budget, and it looks so big–but the biggest part of that by far is dealing with the legacy of nuclear weapons production at various sites around the country. I was stunned myself. You know, the National Institutes of Health invest a bit more than $30 billion.
The Gates Foundation is in that health area, and when we pick a disease to work on, we pick a disease where for some reason the market is not working. Like malaria: rich people don’t need a malaria vaccine. They are rarely in malarial areas, and when they are, they can take prophylactic drugs and not worry about it. And yet for the people who live there, over a million a year, mostly kids in Africa, die. When we did our first $50 million grant for malaria, about a decade ago, we more than doubled the amount of money going into malaria research at the time. It’s a horrific disease, but there’s not a market reward for coming up with a malaria vaccine.
So you made a market.
Yes, you can create a market where there’s no natural market. The biggest project, the one that’s furthest along, is where GlaxoSmithKline is doing a vaccine called R2SS, which is now in phase 3 [trials]. It’s not a perfect vaccine. It reduces mortality a bit more than 50 percent. And then we’re funding a lot of other things that aren’t as far along that–either by themselves or in combination–would get us a perfect vaccine. There are some very novel ideas in the early stages.
But to go back to your question, the reason we’re involved is because there’s not a market. And so our investment is mind-blowing compared to anything else. And you do have that in diseases of the poor world. You know, in the rich world, the percentage of people with AIDS is fairly small, and so the cost of treating people with drugs for a lifetime is affordable. It’s not perfect for those people, it’s not perfect financially, but the difficulties of coming up with a vaccine are such that there’s not a market incentive for it. So an AIDS vaccine is another one that is being funded by a combination of government budgets and philanthropy. The two biggest funders by far are our foundation and the U.S., the part of the NIH involved.
As 2015 draws closer, the Millennium Development Goals are becoming more attainable than ever before. One of the critical pieces of the Millennium Development Goals is the fight against malaria. Success in that fight has produced results across the board. Declining child mortality, decreased burden on health care facilities and increased economic productivity are all results of investing in malaria. The following video presents the myriad of successes that the world has seen from the tremendous efforts against malaria so far. While these statistics represent real lives that are being impacted by the progress in the fight against malaria, it must also be remembered that these results are not irreversible. The global community must push forward and advance these gains in order to end malaria deaths in Africa by 2015.
